Escaping the hazard

Learning from the May 73 billboard collapse in Mumbai, municipal bodies should regularly audit billboard stability and restrict oversized signboards to ensure public safety as well as to increase revenue

14 people lost their lives on May 13 afternoon in Mumbai, when the city was struck by a sudden dust storm, and a huge billboard collapsed and fell due to the high speed of the wind, on unsuspecting passersby.

Media reported, a day later on May 14, that the Municipal Corporation of Mumbai did ask the advertiser to remove the huge (illegal) hoarding, just a prior, and if complied, it would have saved the fatal disaster.

Now, this oversized billboard or hoarding was not supposed to be put up in the first place. There are well set out SOPs and size caps on fixtures that can be laid out in the public space. Of course, it's flouted with impunity by the concerned Babu's of all the Municipal Corporations, across the country, which is a different issue altogether! The basic reason is greed. To earn some extra nickels, turning a blind eye to such blatant violations of the SOPs with disregard to existing policy resulted in several innocent lives being lost. Most probably, the culprits would go scot-free, thanks to the cumbersome process of the fact-finding committee, to ascertain fault lines, besides a web of (mis)administrative procedures. Such an ordeal is to continue in future also for sure.