Mumbai: Permission to put up a huge hoarding near a petrol pump in Mumbai, which crashed and killed 17 people last month, was given to an advertising firm without taking any security deposit, officials said on Thursday.
The 120x120 feet billboard crashed into a petrol pump in suburban Ghatkopar amid strong winds and heavy rain on May 13, killing 17 people and injuring 74 others.
A senior official said the land in question was in the possession of the Government Railway Police and permission to erect the hoarding near the petrol pump was given to M/s Ego Media Pvt Ltd for 10 years with the approval of the then GRP Commissioner Qaiser Khalid. ,
He said that GRP was getting rent of Rs 13 lakh per month from the advertising firm for leasing land for hoardings.
As per the monthly rent, GRP could have collected a security deposit of Rs 40 lakh from the advertising firm. However, the then GRP Commissioner gave permission to the private company to put up the hoardings without taking any security money, the official stressed.Earlier, GRP had collected Rs 40 lakh from Ego Media for three hoardings which were allotted to them as per the tender rules, the official said.
Police are investigating why the GRP headed by Khalid did not take security money from the advertising firm, he said.
The role of the then GRP officials and concerned Mumbai civic authorities in granting permission for the billboard and other formalities is also being investigated by the police, he said.
The police have formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the accident. The Maharashtra government has constituted a separate committee under the chairmanship of former Allahabad High Court Chief Justice Dilip Bhosale to investigate the hoarding collapse incident.So far, the Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested Ego Media owner Bhavesh Bhinde, the firm's former director Janhvi Marathe, BMC-approved engineer Manoj Sanghu, who issued the sustainability certificate for the hoarding, and one more person in connection with the tragedy. Is.
The 120x120 feet billboard crashed into a petrol pump in suburban Ghatkopar amid strong winds and heavy rain on May 13, killing 17 people and injuring 74 others.
A senior official said the land in question was in the possession of the Government Railway Police and permission to erect the hoarding near the petrol pump was given to M/s Ego Media Pvt Ltd for 10 years with the approval of the then GRP Commissioner Qaiser Khalid. ,
He said that GRP was getting rent of Rs 13 lakh per month from the advertising firm for leasing land for hoardings.
As per the monthly rent, GRP could have collected a security deposit of Rs 40 lakh from the advertising firm. However, the then GRP Commissioner gave permission to the private company to put up the hoardings without taking any security money, the official stressed.Earlier, GRP had collected Rs 40 lakh from Ego Media for three hoardings which were allotted to them as per the tender rules, the official said.
Police are investigating why the GRP headed by Khalid did not take security money from the advertising firm, he said.
The role of the then GRP officials and concerned Mumbai civic authorities in granting permission for the billboard and other formalities is also being investigated by the police, he said.
The police have formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the accident. The Maharashtra government has constituted a separate committee under the chairmanship of former Allahabad High Court Chief Justice Dilip Bhosale to investigate the hoarding collapse incident.So far, the Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested Ego Media owner Bhavesh Bhinde, the firm's former director Janhvi Marathe, BMC-approved engineer Manoj Sanghu, who issued the sustainability certificate for the hoarding, and one more person in connection with the tragedy. Is.
