Mumbai Hoarding Collapse: Absconding Billboard Owner Also Accused Of Rape, 14 Crushed to Death After Dust Storm; Rescue Ops End - News18 (2024)

Sachin Yadav (23), one of the victims of the hoarding collapse, had landed a job as an attendant at the ill-fated BPCL petrol pump in Ghatkopar just a couple of months ago, a family member said on Tuesday.

Yadav is one of the 14 people who were killed when a 120 x 120 square feet illegal hoarding collapsed on a petrol pump in the Chheda Nagar area due to gusty winds during dust storms and rains that lashed the city on Monday.

Action has already been taken against more than 1,500 illegal hoardings in Pune city, the civic body said on Tuesday in the wake of the hoarding collapse incident in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar area which claimed 14 lives.

There were 1,564 illegal temporary hoardings and posters in the city, Pune Municipal Corporation’s commissioner Rajendra Bhosale said.

Municipal Commissioner and Administrator Bhushan Gagrani visited the incident site where a hoarding collapsed in the Chheda Nagar area of Ghatkopar.

He inspected the rescue operations and took stock of the situation.

The owner of the billboard in Ghatkopar area, which killed 14 people after it came crashing down amid heavy rain and dust storm on Monday (May 13), is a rape accused and has been penalised at least 21 times in the past for putting up illegal hoardings. READ MORE

There was an FIR under section 376 (punishment of rape) of the Indian Penal code filed against Bhavesh Bhinde at Mulund police station earlier this year.

This was filed by Bhinde’s partner in the firm, who had alleged that he had raped her.

Bhinde was granted anticipatory bail in the same case from Mulund court. His legal team said that the two were in a relationship and the case against him was false.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has ordered the removal of remaining hoardings on Government Railway Police (GRP) land at Chheda Nagar in the eastern part of Mumbai’s Ghatkopar, where at least 14 persons were killed and 74 injured when a 100-feet-tall illegal billboard fell at a petrol pump during massive dust storms and unseasonal rains on Monday.

The hoardings on GRP land were installed by Ego Media, a hoarding company and the advertising agency owned by one Bhavesh Bhinde. The BMC has issued a notice to the company for installing the hoarding that collapsed. READ MORE

An official of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), which is engaged in the search and rescue at the hoarding collapse site in Chheda Nagar here, said they can’t use gasoline-powered cutters as the accident site is a petrol pump and it can result in a blast or fire.

Two NDRF teams are engaged in the search and rescue operation along with the fire brigade, local disaster response teams, police, and dog squads.

The huge hoarding which collapsed in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar area killing at least 14 people was reportedly under the scanner of civic authorities for the past year. As per Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s guideline, billboards of a maximum of 40×40 feet are permitted to be installed. However, the one that collapsed was 120×120 feet.

According to a report by Indian Express, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s tree department had registered an official complaint with the police against Ego Media, the agency that maintains the billboards, for violating protocols in December 2023. It again approached the police two weeks ago in April.READ MORE

Mumbai’s Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport faced a brief shutdown due to heavy rain and low visibility. Operations were suspended for about 66 minutes, causing 15 flights to divert.

According to PTI, operations later resumed at 5.03 pm, the airport operator said in the statement.”Due to the inclement weather and dust storms in the city, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) temporarily suspended flight operations for around 66 minutes due to low visibility and gusty winds,” the airport operator said in a statement.

Stating that the operations resumed at 17:03 hours, the statement added, “during this period, the airport witnessed 15 diversions”. CSMIA had only last week completed its pre-monsoon runway maintenance successfully to ensure safe and smooth aircraft operations. READ MORE

A day after a hoarding collapse in Mumbai killed 14 persons and injured several others, BJP leader Kirit Somaiya asked how the permission for erecting the billboard was given by a police officer when the city civic body is the authority for it. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the former MP also claimed permissions for the hoarding and a petrol pump (where the billboard collapsed) were given when Uddhav Thackeray was the chief minister of Maharashtra.

Had the then director general of police been strict, such a hoarding would not have come up, he said. Somaiya also said the permission on paper was given for a 40 feet hoarding whereas the billboard which collapsed was 120 feet tall.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will on Tuesday start taking down the remaining hoardings on Government Railway Police (GRP) land at Chheda Nagar in the eastern part of Mumbai, where 14 people lost their lives after a billboard collapsed during a dust storm, an official said.

At least 14 persons were killed and 74 injured after a 100-feet-tall illegal billboard fell at a petrol pump in Ghatkopar during dust storms and unseasonal rains that lashed the city on Monday.

The civic body has prepared a plan to raze the remaining hoardings on the GRP land, the official said.

Twenty-three-year-old Bharat Rathod was among the 14 people who were killed after the hoarding collapse in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar area. Rathod, who was on his way to deliver medicines made a pit stop to get fuel at the petrol pump, where the billboard came crashing down.

He was the sole breadwinner of his family, as per a report by the Times of India.