Hoardings down, partially

On April 3, 2008 officials of the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) partially pulled down the controversial hoardings at Doongerwadi, before Lewis Advertisers, the hoarding contractors approached the Bombay High Court for relief. The Court had ordered a status quo on the matter until April 10, reported The Times of India (TOI) dated April 5, 2008.

Earlier, on March 31, 2008, the Supreme Court dismissed a special leave petition filed by the advertising company after the stay granted by it expired on March 31, informed Mumbai Mirror (MM) in its issue dated April 2, 2008. The hoardings were erected near the entrance to Doongerwadi last year and social activist and gynecologist Dr Anahita Pandole moved the High Court in a public interest litigation seeking to remove them as they might distract motorists who use the Kemp’s Corner flyover, among other reasons. The matter came up for hearing in the Supreme Court on March 31 where the division bench of Justice B. N. Agarwal and Justice G. C. Singhvi said: "We do not find any ground to interfere with the impugned order. The special leave petition is accordingly dismissed,” reported MM. The Supreme Court also did not grant further stay on removal of the hoardings. Earlier, the advertisers had obtained a stay from the city civil court to protect the hoardings, which expired on March 5. They then again moved the Supreme Court on March 11 and had obtained interim stay under March 31.

The hoardings which had been put up last year had earned the wrath of environmentalists and others. Doongerwadi is listed as a Grade II B heritage site. The Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) which manages the 55-acre plot had awarded the contract to Lewis Advertisers. The BPP had maintained that it was running huge losses and would earn Rs 30 lakh per year by leasing out the land for the massive twin hoardings.

Partially dismantled hoardings at Doongerwadi

In February this year 20-25 upper branches of trees obstructing the hoardings were surreptitiously cut partially and fastened by ropes to other branches in the hope of camouflaging the transgression. But an alert Pandole sent a legal notice to the BPP to "forthwith revoke and cancel the said purported licence of all permissions granted for the said hoardings and to forthwith remove the said hoardings and their structure (‘Hoardings haunt BPP,’ Events and Personalities, Parsiana, March 21, 2008).” The BPP had terminated the controversial contract for the two-tiered hoarding at Doongerwadi as well as the security agency at the grounds.

Jam-e-Jamshed Weekly on Sunday, April 6, 2008 wrote that the BPP trustees met on April 1 and resolved, after a major debate, to instruct the BMC to take necessary steps as per the Supreme Court order. The Jamé went on to say that the following day the demolition team was initially stopped "under the pretence that funeral rites were underway and they could not start the work.” The team then started to dismantle the hoardings in the evening after receiving clearance from Mehli Colah, the new CEO of the BPP.

Jamé alleges that within a short time trustee Dinshaw Mehta rushed to the site and instructed the workers to stop, which they refused to do. It claims that Mehta was livid with the BPP CEO for permitting the demolition and tried to stop the workmen, without feeling the need to inform any of his co-trustees. Jamé adds that Mehta remained there until late at night and was joined by his brother and other members of his family who also tried to dissuade the BMC workers from taking down the hoardings. When nothing worked, Mehta is said to have expressed his "grave concern” about the safety of the workmen as it was becoming dark. The workmen refused to buckle, so Mehta issued them a hand-written letter instructing them to stop work. The drama, the Jamé informs, ended at 11 p.m.

When contacted by Parsiana, Mehta explained that since the advertisements had already been removed that morning, there was no need to take down the panels so late in the evening, especially as a funeral was in progress. The BPP CEO had issued the order at 6.30 p.m. without consulting any of the trustees, he added. Mehta went to the site when the Doongerwadi manager contacted him saying it was dangerous for the workmen to dismantle the hoardings in the fading light. He issued the hand-written letter at the insistence of the BMC workmen, he stated.