Former BJP MP Kirti Somaiya claimed on Thursday that the tender for the hoarding was initiated during the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray. He urged for an investigation by a Special Investigative Team (SIT) and the Enforcement Directorate. In response, the Shiv Sena countered that since the land belonged to the railways, no state government was involved in awarding the contract. They accused Somaiya of making unsubstantiated allegations, suggesting his focus was on the Lok Sabha elections.
In a press conference on Thursday, Somaiya claimed that the land belonged to the Maharashtra Police Housing Welfare Corporation, and the Maharashtra Railway Police commissioner was in control of the process related to the hoarding tenders. “I have RTI documents which show that the tender process for the hoarding and three others nearby was initiated during the MVA government,” he said. “The tendering process for the four sites was started in January 2021. Bhavesh Bhinde of Ego Media Private Ltd got all four.
Somaiya shared a letter purportedly written by the then Government Railway Police (GRP) commissioner Quaiser Khalid to Ego Media Pvt Ltd, which says, ‘After the process, your tender was approved for the land on lease for 10 years… You have requested by the letter dated April 23, 2022, to extend the tenure of lease for 30 years, as there will be big expenditure on Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC). As per that, the approval has been granted for the tenure of 30 years.’ (sic)
Although Khalid’s letter nowhere mentions the government, Somaiya alleged that Khalid granted the extension on the MVA government’s instructions, The BJP leader also wrote a letter to deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, demanding a probe by an SIT, and asking that Khalid be sent on leave till the inquiry was completed.
Somaiya also alleged that the BMC had issued a notice to Ego Media Pvt Ltd in 2021-22 about the size of the hoarding, which was way above the permitted height of 40 feet. He claimed that Khalid had told the BMC that since the land belonged to the railway ministry, these rules would not apply. “All the permissions by different authorities during the MVA tenure point to the fact that without the MVA government’s involvement, this was not possible,” he said. “All the evidence and file notings will come out in the probe.”
The Mumbai Police on Thursday arrested Bhavesh Bhinde, director of Ego Media Pvt Ltd, the advertising agency that owns the billboard that collapsed in Ghatkopar.Bhinde’s company had set up the 120x120-foot advertising hoarding in Pant Nagar, Ghatkopar East, which collapsed after being hit by a short spell of unseasonal rain and gusty winds on May 13. The massive billboard fell on a busy petrol pump, trapping close to 100 people under it, 16 of whom have died.