Mumbai, July 1 (IANS): Industries Minister Uday Samant on Monday announced in the state assembly that a policy on erecting hoardings in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) will be released soon and a structural audit will be conducted against hoardings.

The hoarding policy will be unveiled after the election code of conduct for the Mumbai legislative council polls ends following the declaration of the results of the graduates' and teachers' constituencies.

However, during his reply to a calling attention motion on hoarding collapse in Ghatkopar, the Assembly witnessed a verbal duel between the ruling and opposition members after the name of former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was mentioned by BJP legislators.

BJP MLA Ram Kadam claimed that the accused in the Ghatkopar hoarding incident Bhavesh Bhinde was a close aide of former CM Uddhav Thackeray.

"The hoarding was cleared during the COVID period. Bhinde met Thackeray when not even an MLA was allowed to meet him. There is a photograph of Bhinde and Thackeray which shows how close they are. I urge the state government to probe this angle as well," he said.

Shiv Sena - UBT MLA Ajay Chaudhary said that the ruling MLAs should not use Thackeray's name for the sake of publicity.

BJP MLA Nitesh Rane claimed that opposition MLA Sunil Raut was a sleeping partner of Bhinde and should also be probed.

Raut claimed that if Rane could prove my association with Bhinde, then I would resign right away. "But it should be probed as to who was the BJP leader who called Bhinde four times when he was absconding. Wasn't he the former BJP MP from Mumbai?" asked Raut.

Samant also announced an inquiry into the decisions taken by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government regarding hoardings during the COVID-19 period. The probe will be conducted by the inquiry committee headed by Justice (Retired) Dilip Bhosale that is investigating the Ghatkopar hoarding incident. This issue was raised by BJP legislator Ashish Shelar.