Mumbai billboard collapse | BMC doesn't have in-house dept to carry out checks, outsources audit job to private firms: Report

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) outsources the job of carrying out the structural checks required to approve hoardings, in the absence of a dedicated department for the same.

In the aftermath of the May 13 Ghatkopar billboard collapse in Mumbai that claimed 16 lives and left at least 75 others injured, The Indian Express reported on Saturday that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) outsources the job of carrying out the structural checks required to approve such hoardings, in the absence of a dedicated department for the same.

On May 17, Bhavesh Bhinde, director of Ego Media advertising agency which had erected the hoarding, was sent to police custody till May 26 by a local court. 

The Express reported that Ego Media was issued a compliance certificate by a private auditor on April 24 last year, despite the 120-foot x 120-foot hoarding clearly violating the BMC’s permissible limit of 40 feet. This compliance certificate was then submitted to the Government Railway Police (GRP), which owns the land on which the billboard was erected.

According to the publication, the BMC has outsourced the audit job to 1,742 such private engineering firms that are empanelled or registered with it.

The report also notes that the BMC sent a notice to the private auditor in the aftermath of the collapse, stating, “You had issued a structural stability certificate to the agency whose billboard collapsed on May 13. The incident resulted in loss of life and it indicates that the certificate was issued without proper analysis, which is negligence from your end.”

“The responsibility of proper auditing lies with the private auditors only, the BMC’s licence department doesn’t carry out these inspections on their own, and only if there’s a mishap then we showcause the auditor, seeking their response on what grounds the clearances were issued,” one official told the publication.

“The BMC doesn’t have adequate manpower to carry out structural audits of the billboards. In case there is a conflict then our members from the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) may intervene following recommendations of the court,” the report quoted another official as saying.

Meanwhile, a report on the incident prepared by the Director General of GRP was forwarded to the Maharashtra Home Department on Thursday.

(With PTI inputs)