BHUBANESWAR: A day after collapse of an illegal hoarding in Aiginia claimed two lives, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) woke up from its slumber and ordered safety check of all such installations across the city on Wednesday.
The civic body also announced a crackdown on illegal hoardings in the city within a month beginning March first week.
On Tuesday evening, the hoarding crashed, killing Tuna Gouda and Sachidananda Pradhan during a thunderstorm in Aiginia area of the city. Another woman Mausumi Nayak also sustained injuries in the tragic mishap.
Blaming the civic body for its lapses, family members of Pradhan along with locals staged a road blockade on the National Highway (NH) on the day which affected vehicular movement. While Pradhan’s sister accused the BMC of inaction, locals alleged that the civic body continued to turn a blind eye despite having information regarding installation of such illegal hoardings in the area. The protest was called off after police and BMC officials intervened.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi expressed grief over the mishap and announced financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh each from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) to the next of kin of both the deceased.
As the clamour grew over illegal hoardings, it emerged that the civic body had carried out a survey in November and identified over 1,100 hoardings on both government and private lands across the city. At least 193 of them were identified as unauthorised and illegal.
With around 24 agencies listed for installation of hoardings on private land and four listed for advertisements on government land, the BMC had in December directed removal of the hoardings which remained unclaimed by any agency but it received no response.
The civic body even launched a drive against such illegal hoardings but stopped it due to shortage of manpower. The killer hoarding at Aiginia was one of those illegal ones which continued to be in place.
In fact, major thoroughfares and key areas of the city are dotted with illegal hoardings by political leaders but the BMC has been reluctant to take action.
Due to high number of illegal hoardings and absence of adequate manpower or resources, deputy commissioner (revenue) Ajaya Kumar Mohanty said, BMC has floated a tender to empanel multiple agencies to carry out the task.
BMC commissioner Chanchal Rana told mediapersons that the tender will be finalised in March first week and revenue to be generated from sale of the hoarding materials will be deposited with the corporation.
“All three zonal deputy commissioners (ZDCs) have been asked to carry out safety check of all hoardings in their jurisdictions and remove those that are structurally weak and unsafe,” he added.
The commissioner asserted that the civic body is planning to remove all illegal hoardings in the city within a month after the tender is finalised. He informed that immediate financial support has been provided to the families of the deceased from CMRF and the corporation has now approached the state government for higher ex gratia to both the families. Sources in the corporation said landowners hosting such hoardings will also be asked to ensure structural certificate of the hoardings on their premises.