Mumbai hoarding collapse: ‘Had started proceedings (against advertiser) but…,’ says railway police

“We had started the proceedings but before the action could be taken, the (tragic) incident occurred,” the GRP said in a statement released by Assistant Commissioner of Police (Admin) Shahaji Nikam.

There is no truth in the news regarding the notice of imposition of penalty by the municipality, the statement added.

On Monday evening, a massive hoarding beside a petrol pump at Ghatkopar’s Pant Nagar on the Eastern Express Highway collapsed after gusty winds and rainfall, trapping more than 100 people underneath it.

The petrol pump, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd’s Police Fuel Station, was being run by the Government Railway Police Commissionerate’s welfare fund organisation. It was started on December 10, 2021, on premises owned by the police. The advertising company, Ego Media Pvt Ltd, was granted permission to erect a hoarding on lease for 10 years by the order of then railway police commissioner Qaiser Khalid.