Mumbaikars demand for hoarding free coastal road has been only partially fulfilled by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) as under the new draft policy, hoardings have been prohibited only within the reclaimed lands for the coastal road. Hence, the commuters are likely to see the hoardings coming up on the non-reclaimed land (open spaces) along the coastal road.

The BMC recently had approved six hoardings in the open spaces along the coastal road in south Mumbai- four in Tata Garden and two in Haji Ali. The contractor will be able to erect the hoardings once the Maharashtra Coastal Regulatory Management Authority gives a final nod. These open spaces fall under the Coastal Regulatory Zone.

What authorities says?

Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Special) Kiran Dighavkar said, “No hoardings are allowed within the reclaimed lands of the coastal road.” He added that the hoardings approved in the Tata Garden and Haji Ali fall beyond the reclaimed lands for coastal road.

Under Draft Policy Guidelines for Display of Outdoor Advertisements 2024 released on Friday, the BMC has permitted erecting hoardings on the Coastal Regulatory Zone with ‘No Objection Certificate’ (NOC) by the Maharashtra Coastal Regulatory Management Authority.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and MLA from Worli had demanded that BMC should follow the ‘hoardings free coastal road’ and stressed that the hoardings could cause accidents. The residents of south Mumbai also started online petition to oppose hoardings along southern arm of the coastal road.

What is the new hoarding policy?

The draft policy also mentions that the earlier system of different sizes for different zones was without any rationale, and the advertisers are allowed to put any size of hoardings (as per policy) anywhere under BMC jurisdiction. The city will have hoardings size of maximum 40ft x 40ft and maximum 100 ft tall.

The draft policy for erecting hoardings also comes with amended process of permissions, including mandatory NOC from Traffic police department. The draft policy also adds the areas prohibited for erecting hoardings, like erecting hoardings on building terrace, traffic island, bridge gantries among others.

As per the draft policy, all the government authorities (like Railways, MHADA, MMRDA etc) now have to strictly follow BMC guidelines for erecting hoardings. BMC spokesperson Tanaji Kamble said that these guidelines existed earlier too, however the government agencies did not abide to the BMC guidelines. After the supreme court’s recent order all agencies need to follow guidelines set by the BMC.

The draft policy comes three months after the fatal Ghatkopar hoarding collapse incident, which killed 17 people and injured over 70.