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PMRDA awaits Election Commission’s approval to tackle illegal hoardings
As per PCMC data, there are more than 1200 licensed hoardings in the PCMC limit and not a single illegal hoarding.
The Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) is seeking approval from the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take action against illegal hoardings under the election code of conduct.
In the wake of the Mumbai hoarding disaster, the PMRDA has now decided to request that ECI give special consideration to allow the opening of a tender and the issuance of a work order for the demolition of illegal hoardings around the city.
According to PMRDA statistics, there are over 700 illegal hoardings in the PMRDA region, which includes 842 villages and covers an area of 7,357 square kilometres. Hoardings are popping up along major highways in the PMRDA region.
Sunil Marale, joint director of planning at PMRDA, stated, “We are doing a survey of illegal hoardings in the PMRDA zone. We decided to take down those hoardings and issued a tender in January. However, we could not issue work orders to contractors due to the Lok Sabha elections.”
He further said, “In wake of the Mumbai hoarding collapse incident, we have decided to once again request ECI to consider emergency work and allow us to open tender and give work order to a contractor to demolish illegal hoardings as voting has completed.”
Sachin Maske, tahasildar of PMRDA who handles the sky and sign department said, “We’re having trouble opening tenders and issuing work orders because of the election code of conduct. In the meantime, we had been educating hoarding owners and sent those notices. They’ve also submitted affidavits stating they’ll take responsibility if any calamity occurs.”
PCMC imposes stricter measures
After the turn of the year, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has not carried out a single action on illegal hoardings in their jurisdictions. As per PCMC data, there are more than 1200 licensed hoardings in the PCMC limit and not a single illegal hoarding.
Sachin Khot, deputy commissioner of the Sky and Sign department said, “After the Kiwale hoarding collapse incident last year, we started conducting a drive and demolished 189 illegal hoardings so far. Besides that, we have conducted a meeting of hoarding owners on 15 April and instructed them to take appropriate precautions ahead of the monsoon season.”
He went on to say, “We only issue or renew hoarding licences after a structural stability report is submitted. We formed a panel of architecture engineers and will only accept reports that they conduct and submit to us.”
He further stated that structural experts who verify the stability of hoardings will be personally accountable for any resulting damage or collapse.
