An excavator operator warned that the soil at a site in Ghatkopar, Mumbai, where a large 120 ft x 120 ft billboard was planned, was soft. This warning was ignored, and sixteen months later, the massive billboard collapsed during a storm, killing 17 people and injuring 74 others.
A 3,299-page chargesheet filed in a Mumbai court by the Special Investigation Team of the Mumbai Crime Branch highlights the alleged involvement of top officials from the Government Railway Police (GRP), Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), and Ego Media Private Limited in the incident on May 13.
The chargesheet states that while the excavator was working to set up the billboard, a tree fell, leading the operator to recommend a soil check for stability. This check would have taken 15 days. However, Ego Media’s director Bhavesh Bhinde and former director Jahnavi Marathe ignored the recommendation and continued without the soil check. This negligence is considered a reason for the billboard’s collapse during the storm. The excavator operator is one of over 100 witnesses whose statements are included in the chargesheet.
The chargesheet also accuses IPS officer Quaiser Khalid, former GRP Commissioner, and BMC licence inspector Sunil Dalvi. Khalid, who has been suspended, allegedly used legal loopholes to award the hoarding to Ego Media without a tender process. Dalvi issued and then withdrew a notice to Ego Media regarding the illegal hoarding. His ongoing contact with Bhinde raised further suspicions.
The hoarding, which was large enough to be listed in the Limca Book of Records, highlighted how safety rules were ignored while approving illegal hoardings in Mumbai. The maximum size allowed for hoardings is 40 ft x 40 ft, but the Ghatkopar billboard was three times larger.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde told the assembly that all 1,025 hoardings in BMC areas are legal. However, hoardings on Railway authority land do not require BMC permission. According to a BMC survey, 99 out of 306 hoardings on Railway authority land in Mumbai exceed the maximum permitted size.
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