Pune: Over 50% Hoarding Companies Submit Structural Audit Conducted By Only One Firm, PMC To Form Panel To Do It On Its Own

Pune 13th August 2023: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to form a panel of five members to conduct the structural audit of hoardings in the city. The decision was taken after the PMC officials realised that a majority of hoarding companys have submitted an audit report prepared by a same organisation.

This further raised concerns on the credibility of the audit conducted as the officials have said that there is a possibility of foul play while preparing the audit report if it is conducted by an only organisation. According to officials, over 50% of the structural audits submitted to the PMC are conducted by only one organisation. Besides, the officials have also said that there is very less information available about the firms that conducted the structural audit.

Considering all these aspects the PMC’s signage department has decided to form a five-member panel to conduct the structural audit on its own. There are a total of 2,300 legal hoardings in the city and the civic body has removed over 1,000 illegal hoardings under a special drive in the last few days.

It may be noted that two incidents of hoarding collapse reported in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad in the recent time have led to death of several people after which the civic bodies in both cities have taken the matter seriously and action against illegal hoardings was started. The legal hoarding owners were also instructed to conduct the structural audit.