4 objections raised against Ghatkopar petrol pump, billboard erection since 2021

Government Railway Police did not get the requisite permission to install the petrol pump and billboards on the plot of land along the Eastern Express Highway.

Mumbai: The tragic May 13 incident of a giant billboard collapsing on a petrol pump in Ghatkopar, killing 14 people and injuring 74 others, could have been avoided if at least four objections raised by various authorities since 2021 had been acknowledged and acted on.

Mumbai, India. May 15, 2024: Over the past 72 hours, NDRF and Mumbai Fire Brigade officials have been carrying out search and rescue operations at the site of a billboard collapse in the Chedanagar area of Ghatkopar, Mumbai. This incident occurred due to heavy rain and strong winds, resulting in the loss of fourteen lives and leaving 75 others injured. May 15, 2024. (Photo by Raju Shinde/HT Photo)

The petrol pump and four large billboards measuring 120x120 feet were installed in the Government Railway Police (GRP) colony land along the Eastern Express Highway in 2021. The GRP’s intention was to generate revenue for its officers’ welfare. Dilapidated staff quarters on the land were demolished to make way for the petrol pump and billboards.

However, documents seen by HT indicate that the GRP did not get the requisite permission to install the petrol pump and billboards.

In August 2021, the Maharashtra State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation (MSPHWC) wrote to the director general of police (DGP) of the GRP objecting to the granting of a no-objection certificate (NOC) for installing the petrol pump.

The letter, written by MSPHWC’s chief engineer ST Kolikar, said the state government had transferred the land to the MSPHWC to build homes for police personnel. It also pointed out safety issues regarding the construction of a petrol pump on the plot, which is surrounded by police officers’ homes and other residential complexes. The letter stated that the MSPHWC would not give up the land without the written permission of the state government. The MSPHWC and GRP both come under the state government.

That same year, there was also correspondence between Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Sandeep Kulthe and then tahsildar Sandeep Thorat regarding the land. Thorat had written to Kulthe saying that the entire plot of 2.71 hectares was reserved for railway police headquarters and residential quarters. The letter also mentions that the construction of the petrol pump was nearly complete despite records at the tahsildar’s office showing the government and collectorate hadn’t given permission for it.

In April 2022, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC’s) senior inspector of licences for the N Ward wrote to the GRP asking it to remove the hoardings due to a lack of permissions. The GRP commissioner’s office responded saying the hoardings were covered under the Indian Railway Act and were outside the purview of the BMC.

And then in June 2022, another chief engineer of MSPHWC, BR Thokale, wrote to the state home department saying that the land was only reserved for the administrative office, educational building and residential quarters of the police. Thokale also informed the home department that giving an NOC for the pump was not possible and asked for the construction work to be stopped.

The current GRP commissioner, Ravindra Shisve, admitted that his predecessor had permitted the installation of the petrol pump, adding that an inquiry is ongoing. Quaiser Khalid, the GRP commissioner at the time the petrol pump and billboards were constructed, did not respond to calls for comment. Sujata Saunik, additional chief secretary of the state home department, refused to comment.

The railway police colony was built in Pantnagar in Ghatkopar East in the late 1960s and ’70s. The land, which was mostly marshy, originally belonged to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority. MHADA was developing Pantnagar as a housing colony. To create a sense of security in the area, the state government then built a housing colony for the railway police.