Mumbai Hoarding Collapse: Rampant Corruption
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2024-05-15 02:53:34
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
The Mumbai
hoarding tragedy is another instance of the authorities turning a blind eye to
gross violations of rules even if the proof of the same is right there in front
of them. It is unthinkable that a huge hoarding at a prominent place could come
up and remain in place for more than two years without the active connivance of
the authorities. Rules were flouted and overlooked as palms were greased and
the hoarding remained in place as, perhaps, regular payments were made to
officers to keep them happy. The end result was that when the dust storm hit
Mumbai, the structure came crashing down (as it was not built as strongly as
needed to save costs) and killed, till last count, 14 persons and injured more
than 80.
As usual,
the authorities will indulge in blame game and the public will never come to
know who was responsible. The owner of the ad agency that put up the hoarding
has gone missing. Preliminary investigation has revealed that the structure was
put up illegally without soil tests and structural audit of pillars. But how is
that possible? The officers of the BMC are supposed to do field checks and should
have stopped the construction. It is obvious that the structure was allowed to
be built after palms were greased. It was a stroke of luck that when the
hoarding fell on the petrol pump, it did not set off explosions otherwise more
people would have died.
Instead of setting
up enquiry commissions and passing the buck, the authorities will do well to
identify the officer who was responsible for watching the area where the hoarding
came up. It should then identify the junior officers who were tasked with
conducting regular field inspections to spot illegal construction. All of them
should be charged with gross negligence of duty and suitably punished. A rule
should be inserted in the law books of municipal corporations that the officer
under whose watch illegal constructions come up will be held solely responsible
for the same and will face punitive action to stop such structures from coming
up.
