Ghatkopar hoarding collapse incident: Illegal billboard owner Bhavesh Bhide has been arrested by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch on Thursday, May 16. Bhide has been arrested from Udaipur and is being brought to Mumbai. Bhavesh Bhide's company put up the giant billboard whose collapse in an unexpected dust storm in Mumbai claimed 16 lives on Monday.
Bhavesh Bhide's company has put up the giant billboard in the Ghatkopar area of Mumbai. He is the director of Ego Media Pvt Ltd, the advertising agency responsible for erecting the hoarding.
After inspecting the Ghatkopar site on Thursday, BMC Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani said the search and rescue operation was complete.
The civic chief said the rescuers had thoroughly checked the site to ensure that no more people were trapped there.
Now, the work of clearing the debris will continue through the day, he said.
Gagrani said agencies like the BMC, Mumbai Police, BPCL, NDRF, Mumbai fire brigade, and Mahanagar Gas participated and completed the rescue operation by “maintaining proper coordination”.
The IAS officer stated that action is being taken on a “war footing” to remove illegal hoardings in the metropolis.
“There should be no hoardings (in the city) other than those meeting the specifications laid down for them. So it is not a question of who owns them or whose place they are in,” Gagrani said.
Gagrani said structural stability of hoardings is mandatory for the ones permitted by the BMC.
Similarly, the Railways has been directed to follow the specifications and remove those hoardings that do not conform to the parameters, he said.
The illegal giant hoarding that collapsed in Ghatkopar stood on a piece of land in possession of the Government Railway Police, officials had said.
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