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BMC initiates steps to bring down rooftop hoardings in Mumbai

City aesthetics, physical risk in the event of collapse of such media units cited as key reasons for the action

Published

May 20, 2019

In what is seen a major effort to declutter the city landscape of Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started to remove hoardings atop buildings and terraces. This action is being taken in consonance with a circular issued by the civic body in 2014. At that time some of the media owners had obtained a stay from the Bombay High Court against the removal of the media. A senior BMC official was quoted in a mainstream daily as saying that due efforts will be initiated to have that court stay vacated.

The removal of hoardings atop buildings and terraces is governed by two reasons – to declutter the city, and to obviate any likely physical risk caused by any of those media units collapsing. A Mirror report states that over 30% of the hoardings present in Mumbai city are installed on rooftops. A BMC License Department official is quoted in the media report as saying that some of the buildings that have rooftop hoardings are not properly maintained and probably lacking the load bearing capacity to have heavy hoardings on the rooftops.