The Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) has started auditing hoardings installed within its jurisdiction. On Saturday morning, civic officials removed two hoardings in the city that failed to meet adequate safety Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). On August 2, the frame of a 40×40 ft billboard collapsed at Sahajanand Chowk in Kalyan West, causing minor injuries to bystanders and damaging several vehicles.
Dr. Indurani Jakhar, Civic Commissioner of KDMC, has instructed ward officials to remove all illegal hoardings in Kalyan-Dombivli and to submit a detailed report within a week after completing the audit. Jakhar stated, “The contractor did not properly follow the SOP while putting up the banners on the billboard. We have instructed the contractor to compensate for the damage to the vehicles.”
Additionally, KDMC has notified railway officials to inspect all hoardings under their jurisdiction to ensure they comply with safety standards.
Following the Ghatkopar incident, KDMC had conducted an audit and removed 125 illegal billboards. The city has 182 legal hoardings as claimed by the civic officials. A senior KDMC ward official said, “As per instructions, we will conduct a thorough audit of hoardings installed in the city. Illegal billboards will be removed, and appropriate action will be taken against any contractors or out-of-home (OOH) advertising agencies violating the norms laid for installing hoardings in the city.”
The Mahatma Phule Police Station registered a First Information Report against the owners of Guru Advertising, a copy of which is with Storyboard18. KDMC had contracted the site to Guru Advertising for five years, and it was renewed in 2021. No arrests have been made so far in this case.
A case under sections 125 (Act endangering life or personal safety of others), 125A (causing hurt) and 324 (2) (causing damage) of the BNS. The complaint was filed by the ward officer of the KDMC against Guru Advertising.
Dr. Kirit Somaiya, a former Member of Parliament, visited the site of the billboard collapse and said, “The Supreme Court-approved rule should be implemented in the MMR zone. The maximum size allowed for hoardings is 40×40 feet. Ideally, any billboard structure in the city should be able to withstand wind speeds of 158 kilometers per hour. All unauthorized billboards should be removed in areas like Kalyan, Dombivli, Mira Bhayandar, and Panvel. We must ensure that incidents like the Ghatkopar tragedy do not repeat.”
In May, the collapse of an illegal billboard in Ghatkopar, which measured approximately 120×120 feet—nearly three times the permitted size of 40×40 feet—killed 14 people and injured over 75, shocking the entire nation.
Since then, multiple cities across the country have been taking stringent actions regarding the placement, size, legality, and structure of billboards.
Civic bodies in cities including Delhi, Chennai, Pune, Kolhapur, and Navi Mumbai are reported to have taken significant steps, including imposing penalties in many cases.