Action taken against illegal hoardings in Pune city: civic body

Pune: Action has already been taken against more than 1,500 illegal hoardings in Pune city, the civic body said on Tuesday, May 14, in the wake of the hoarding collapse incident in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar area which claimed 14 lives.

There were 1,564 illegal temporary hoardings and posters in the city, Pune Municipal Corporation’s commissioner Rajendra Bhosale said.

“We have taken action against them. We had also issued an order to conduct structural audit of all legal hoardings in the city,” he told reporters.

Of 2,598 legal hoardings in PMC limits, the audit of 2,300 was complete and none of them was found to be structurally unstable, the commissioner said.

No illegally erected commercial hoardings were found, Bhosale added.

The civic body was also revising policy guidelines for hoardings in congested areas, he added.

At least 14 persons were killed when a giant hoarding crashed on a petrol pump in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar area amid rain and strong winds on Monday evening.

Pune had witnessed a similar tragic incident in October 2018 when a hoarding on the railway station premises fell on vehicles on the adjoining road, claiming four lives.