Mira-Bhayandar: Billboard owners defy May 31 deadline to submit structural audit report

In a brazen defiance to notices issued by the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC), most of the advertising agencies and billboard owners in the twin-city have failed to submit fresh structural audits of the hoardings to the advertising department.

As a precautionary measure, the MBMC had been issuing notices for the submission of structural audit reports after five people were killed due to the collapse of an illegal hoarding in the Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune in April this year. The final deadline ended on 31 May.

Actual number of hoardings higher than official figure

The notices under the relevant sections of the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations Act, 1949 were issued last month.  According to officials, there are a total of 166 hoardings including 110 on sites (20 feet x20 feet) leased out by the civic administration, this in addition to 56 huge billboards which have been installed on private properties. However, the MBMC received only around 45 certificates from owners of bill boards erected on private properties. However, considering the presence of illegal hoardings, the actual figure could be much higher.

An official from the advertising department requesting anonymity said, “The agencies who had been awarded rights to install hoardings at public spaces had moved the court against the fresh tenders invited by the civic body, seeking a year’s extension owing to the period wasted during the Covid pandemic. Since the matter is pending before the court, the agencies have apparently refrained from submitting the structural stability certificates.”

Several hoardings not audited for structural stability

As per the standard operating procedure, for every hoarding – be it on private or government land, the advertising agency concerned or owner has to obtain a structural stability certificate from listed engineers and submit to the civic body, supported with timely renewals on an annual basis. However, several hoardings have allegedly not been audited for structural stability for years.