(MENAFN- Live Mint) Mumbai hoarding collapse: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday suspended IPS officer Quaiser Khalid, who was serving as the Commissioner of Government Railway Police, for allowing the illegal hoarding that collapsed in Mumbai's Ghatkopar area without the go-ahead from the Director General of Police (DGP) office. On May 13, the illegal hoarding collapse resulted in the death of 17 people and injured over 70. The hoarding collapsed onto a petrol pump amid gusty winds and a dust storm that day.

The Maharashtra government had constituted a committee under former Allahabad High Court chief justice Dilip Bhosle to probe the hoarding collapse in Mumbai.

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So far, police have arrested Bhavesh Bhinde, director of Ego Media Private Limited, which had erected the structure, its former staffers Janhavi Marathe and Sagar Patil, as well as structural engineer Manoj Sanghu, who provided the stability certificate allegedly without detailed inspection.

BMC engineer Sunil Dalvi, who was posted in N Ward, has been questioned by the Mumbai Police's special investigation team (SIT).

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An official said the Director General of Railway Police carried out an internal inquiry into the incident, which submitted its report to the Maharashtra DGP, who in turn handed it over to the state government.

As per the probe carried out so far, the hoarding came up on land in possession of Government Railway Police and the permission to erect it near a petrol pump was given to Ego Media Private Limited for 10 years with the approval of then Police Commissioner of Government Railway Police Quaiser Khalid.

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A report submitted by Veermata Jijabai Institute of Technological Institute (VJTI) contended that the hoarding's foundation was inadequate and weak.

While any hoarding structure must be able to withstand wind speeds of 158 kilometres per hour (kmph), the one that collapsed was able to withstand wind speeds of just 49 kmph, the VJTI report said. On the day of the incident, the wind speed was 87 kmph, the official added.

(With agency inputs)

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