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Illegal hoardings: PMC files cases against 207 firms in Pune
The civic body has made it mandatory for all hoarding companies to provide structural audit reports to the civic authority every six months
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has filed cases against 207 private companies and individuals for not submitting the structural report of hoardings put up in the city.
Taking strong cognisance of the hoarding collapse incident which took place on October 5, 2018, that claimed four lives in the city, PMC had made it mandatory for all hoarding companies to provide structural audit reports to the civic authority every six months.
Out of the total 1, 749 hoardings within the PMC limits, the civic body has so far not received audit reports of at least 50 per cent of the hoardings in the city.
Vijay Dahibhate, head of PMC’s sky sign department, said, “We have filed cases against 207 private companies and individuals who have put up the hoarding structures in the city and have not submitted the structural report of the same. All the hoardings in these cases have been removed by our officials.”
Dahibhate refused to give the names of the private entities and individuals involved in these cases.
All the cases have been filed under the Maharashtra Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 1995. The act was formulated by the government of Maharashtra for the prevention of defacement of property.
According to the rules and regulations of the PMC before October 2018, the hoarding owners had to submit these audit reports once in every two years. However, post the incident of the hoarding collapse near the Regional Transport Office (RTO) chowk last year, the decision to submit such reports every six months was made mandatory by the civic body.
The frame of a billboard, 40-foot in height, collapsed onto vehicles at the Shahir Amar Shaikh chowk at Junna Bazaar in the month of October last year, killing four persons and seriously injuring five.
The frame, installed on land belonging to the Pune railway department, was being removed when the incident was reported.
According to Dahibhate, in the last quarter, 222 hoardings have been taken down by the PMC, as the hoardings did not have legal permissions.
Dahibhate said, “The civic body is taking stiff action against all those who are putting up hoardings in the city without proper permission. While we have removed 222 hoardings, the drive is currently in progress.”
Ward committees in two months: HC to PMC
In a response to a petition filed by non governmental organisation (NGO) Nagrik Chetna Manch, the Bombay high court on April 25, has ordered the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to constitute ward committees in compliance of section 29 A of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations (MMC Act, 1949) in the next two months.
Nagrik Chetna Manch had filed a petition in the Bombay high court in 2017 alleging irregularities and violations in the selection process of representatives from NGOs/ social organisations in the ward committees of the PMC.
The petition filed by the NCM stated, “Based on the analysis of the replies received through numerous applications filed for five wards out of 15 total (33.33%) under the Right to Information Act, 2005, several violations, irregularities and deviations were noticed in two successive five-year terms of the Pune Municipal Corporation that is 2012-2017 and 2007-2012.”
It added, “Contrary to laid down procedural law, it was found/analysed that in both five years terms, the selection (closed door induction by only the corporators in that particular ward) process of representatives from NGOs / social organisations had started only after a gap of 1,181 days for the 2012-2017 term and 1,179 days for the 2007-2012 term.”
Due to this approximate gap of 1,181 and 1,179 days respectively, the ward committees functioned on partial strength in violation of Section 29A (3) and (2) (a) to (c) of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act 1949, said Sukhrani. Hence, the civic body now has to constitute the ward committees in compliance with the act.
Qaneez Sukhrani, secretary, Nagrik Chetna Manch said, “We are fortunate that the Bombay high court ordered the PMC to appreciate equal participation of NGOs in governance. The role of civil society in governance is vital.”
The state along with PMC failed to file a reply to the petition, even though the notice was served in September 2017 and several opportunities were given to them by the court.
She alleged that, “This was a serious deviation by the PMC administration which connived to allow the elected councillors to prepare their favoured NGOs / social organisations to file their applications and get selected.”
While we welcome the court’s order, the court has left the option of filing a contempt if the civic body fails to abide by the Bombay HC’s orders, she said.
