Thane hoarding collapse: Ad agency, structural engineer booked
TMC revokes hoarding permission after billboard crashes despite a valid stability certificate; citywide inspections and structural audits ordered
Police have registered a case against an advertising agency and a structural engineer following the collapse of a hoarding in Maharashtra’s Thane city, officials said on Wednesday.
The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) had also revoked the permission granted to the advertising agency for putting up a hoarding in view of the incident which occurred on July 6, they said.
The authorised cantilever-type advertising hoarding erected on a road divider crashed in the Subhash Nagar area of Vartak Nagar. No casualties were reported, the officials said.
Taking serious note of the safety lapse, the TMC has cancelled the permission for the said hoarding. A case has been registered against the advertising agency and the structural engineer concerned under Section 125 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for endangering the life or personal safety of others, the civic body said in a release.
The agency had been granted permission to erect the structure under the TMC’s intersection beautification scheme in exchange for developing various junctions across the city. The firm had submitted a fresh structural stability certificate on June 6, issued by a structural engineer following an audit.
Since the hoarding collapsed despite possessing a valid stability certificate, a detailed inquiry has been initiated into the matter, the TMC said.
Following the crash, the TMC launched a drive to inspect all authorised hoardings across Thane. During the inspection, hoardings at two locations were found to be in a dangerous condition, prompting their immediate removal, it said.
Strict instructions have been issued to all advertisement licensees in the city to check the structural strength of their hoardings, dismantle advertising sheets during the monsoon as required, and ensure the safety of all electrical illumination and wiring, it added.
On July 13, a massive birthday banner collapsed from a foot overbridge near Mulund Check Naka in Thane.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, an MLA from Thane, later directed the TMC to immediately remove all illegal hoardings and conduct structural audits of all large advertising billboards in the city.
A hoarding collapse on a petrol pump in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar area in May 2024 claimed 17 lives.
