The contract document that was issued by Commissioner of Police, Railways, Mumbai on 7 December 2021 to the private advertisement agencies that had erected the massive billboard in Ghatkopar, which had collapsed on Monday killing at least 14 people, had clearly stated that the said company- the Mulund West based EGO Media– will be responsible for the structural stability of the display board and responsible for maintaining the structure especially considering the climatic conditions of the area.
The said letter signed by Shahji Nikam, ACP (I/C), for Commissioner of Police, Railways, Mumbai was addressed to Janhavi Marathe and Kiran Shirke of EGO Media. As per company records, while Kiran was a director in the recent past, Janhavi is still listed as the director of the said company.
When the Daily Guardian called Kiran Shirke, he disconnected the call upon learning the identity of this correspondent. The mobile number of Janhavi was switched off.
The Pant Nagar police, under whose jurisdiction the hoarding collapse incident took place, registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Bhavesh Prabhudas Bhinde, 51, the director of Ego Media Pvt Ltd which had the contract for the hoarding on a 10-year lease.
Incorporated in 2016, Ego Media Private Limited specializes in providing outdoor advertising media services including hoardings, station boards, station circulating areas, private hoardings, gantries, glow signs, and pole kiosks. The company’s clientele, as per its claims, includes big names such as Honda, Hiranandani, Fastrack, Godrej, Big Bazaar, Tata Housing, Britannia, and Titan, among others.
According to official documents related to this matter, while the company was given the permission to erect the billboard of the maximum size of 40×40 square foot, the collapsed hoarding was of the size of 120×120 square feet, triple of what it could erect, leading to its collapse.
As per the documents, the Mumbai police was charging a monthly rental at the rate of ‘per square feet’ for the hoarding and hence it can be assumed that Mumbai police was aware of the actual size of the hoarding for which the company was paying the monthly rental every month.
Infact, on 13 May the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) or Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai had issued a notice to EGO media to remove all its hoardings from the said site for not having the required permissions. The BMC had also written to ACP( Administration), Railway Commissioner, Mumbai on 2 May to remove the hoardings.
The said land on which the billboard was erected was categorized as “Collector land” and was in the possession of police housing welfare corporation, government of Maharashtra.
The tender for erecting the hoardings at the spot was floated in the latter part of 2020 and EGO media was given the tender in December 2021. It is not yet clear as to when the said company erected the said illegal super-sized billboard.
The city had witnessed a fierce storm on Monday, something that had not been seen for many years as a result of which the huge hoarding, built defying all norms that are in place to ensure that they are able to withstand natural calamities, was uprooted.