The issue of hoardings was raised by Shiv Sena (UBT) MLC Sunil Shinde through a Calling Attention Motion.

Responding to it, Samant said that a fresh survey of digital hoardings will also be carried out and illegal hoardings will be removed.

After the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse on May 13, the government had appointed a committee under former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court Dilip Bhosale to conduct an inquiry into the tragedy.

“The Bhosale committee has been formed, which is working on the new policy. If the Opposition or any member of the House has any suggestions we will surely take it. We will take some of the members of the House in the committee. We already have the law for the hoardings but if there is any need to amend the law and make it more strict then we will do that as well,” Samant said, adding that the government will issue instructions for a fresh survey of hoardings in the MMR and to other civic bodies. “The survey will be conducted within 30 days and the report will be submitted. We will take strict action against the violators,” he said.

Sena (UBT) MLC Anil Parab also raised questions on illegal hoardings in the city as well as digital hoardings. “I have a list of the illegal hoardings. I will submit the list on Monday. Will the government take action against them,” he asked.

Responding, Samant said, “If there are any illegal hoardings, then we will also conduct a fresh survey of these illegal hoardings within 30 days. We will check the list once Parab submits it and if there are illegal hoardings then action would be taken. On digital hoardings too necessary action would be taken and it will be regulated.”

White paper on MoUs signed in Davos

Samant also announced that the government will soon bring out a white paper on the status and outcome of the MoUs signed in Davos World Economic Forum (WEF) in the past three years.

While responding to a question raised by Congress MLC Abhijeet Wanjari, Samant said that the white paper would be submitted before the Assembly polls. “This year we signed MoUs worth Rs 3.82 lakh crore. Around 80 percent of the MoUs signed in Davos have been executed. We will soon bring out the white paper on the MoUs signed in WEF in the past three years,” he said, adding that during the MVA government MoUs worth Rs 86,000 crore were signed but out of that only Rs 16,000 crore MoUs were related to MIDC. , while MoUs worth Rs 50,000 were signed by the Energy department.

Responding to allegations of Ambadas Danve, the Opposition leader in Legislative Council, that a Rs 50,000 crore project of Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) that was going to be set up in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar or Dabhol in Maharashtra will now be set up in Madhya Pradesh, Samant said GAIL had approached the state government for a land in Ratnagiri to set up their plant but the company never gave anything in writing and left saying that it does not need the land when the government followed it up with GAIL.

“They never made any application or formal request for the land so it is not right to say that the project was going to come to Maharashtra and then shifted,” Samant said, further announcing that a Hyundai project worth Rs 4,000 crore, which was going to Chennai, will now come to Maharashtra.