Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (WR) have received instructions from the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) to remove hoardings larger than 40 by 40 feet. This directive came during a meeting at the civic offices on Monday, July 22.
The meeting, presided by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) additional commissioners Ashwini Joshi and Amit Saini, included all DDMA members and representatives from the civic license department, the railways, collector’s office and the traffic police. It also included representatives from the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and Public Works Department (PWD).
Meeting Discussion
During the meeting, authorities instructed the railway officials to remove hoardings exceeding the size limit to prevent potential accidents. According to the BMC’s policy guidelines established in 2008, the maximum size of an outdoor hoarding in Mumbai is 40 by 40 feet. This dimension was determined by considering the wind speed in the coastal city. All the agencies agreed upon the 40 by 40 size limit on hoardings.
Response from Railway Authorities
A senior WR official stated that the they have already given instructions to five of its advertisers to adhere to the Supreme Court’s decision to remove oversized hoardings. However, a response is still pending. These hoardings are situated in Borivali, Charni Road, and Bandra. The ruling will also lead to the dismantling of the 120*120 feet hoarding at the Bandra highway, which alone brought in INR 8 crore for the railways.
Meanwhile, officials from CR also stated that all of the agencies behind the hoardings within their authority have been notified. Reports suggest that there are a total of 18 oversized hoardings in CR jurisdiction. CR has also sent out a general warning to all other advertisers, asking them to follow the rules.
How it all started?
Following the hoarding collapse on May 13, DDMA had sent a notice to both railway authorities to remove excessive and unlawful hoardings placed on railway property. This notice was sent on May 15.
However, the railways denied the instructions, citing their own policies. In response, the BMC reported the matter to the Supreme Court. It moved a plea saying that both the railway authorities did not follow the order.
On July 10, the Supreme Court ordered the general managers of WR and CR to comply with the BMC’s directives issued on May 15 regarding hoarding sizes.
The Supreme Court also instructed the Additional Municipal Commissioner of the BMC to hold a meeting within two weeks. In response to the directive, the DDMA called a meeting.
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