Govt to introduce new hoarding policy for Mumbai Metropolitan Region

The Maharashtra government will soon introduce a policy on hoardings in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), as announced by state Minister Uday Samant in the legislative assembly on Monday. This announcement came during a discussion about illegal hoardings and a recent incident where a hoarding collapse resulted in 17 deaths last month.

Samant stated that the policy will be revealed after the legislative council polls' code of conduct ends and the results for the graduates and teachers constituencies are announced. He mentioned that a committee, led by former Allahabad High Court chief justice Dilip Bhosle, is investigating the May 13 hoarding collapse in Mumbai's Ghatkopar area.

BJP legislator Ram Kadam claimed that Bhavesh Bhinde, whose company installed the collapsed hoarding, was seen in a photograph with Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, and demanded an investigation into his role.

Samant also highlighted that permissions are often not obtained from civic authorities for hoardings erected on railway land, noting that out of the 1,025 hoardings in Mumbai, 306 are on railway land.