BMC sub-engineer suspended, arrested for illegally taking money, exempting international passengers from quarantine

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday suspended a civic sub-engineer (architect) stationed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) for illegally taking money from international passengers landing in Mumbai and wrongfully exempting them from institutional quarantine.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday suspended a civic sub-engineer (architect) stationed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) for illegally taking money from international passengers landing in Mumbai and wrongfully exempting them from institutional quarantine. The civic administration also lodged a complaint against the employee, Dinesh S Gawande, with Sahar Airport police station, following which he was arrested by the police.

For representation. (HT FILE)

A civic official said, “The sub-engineer has been suspended pending enquiry. A case has been lodged against him by the civic administration. We received information that the police arrested him.”

Since December 21, 2020, BMC has been institutionally quarantining international fliers from the United Kingdom, South Africa, Italy, and other European and Middle Eastern countries who land in Mumbai to detect if they are infected by the new, more transmissible Covid-19 strain, which originated in the UK. So far, 49,362 passengers have been quarantined. To facilitate this, civic employees have been stationed at the airport in three shifts.

BMC suspected that there were malpractices in the process of quarantining these passengers and informed the airport administration to discreetly monitor the process. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at the airport was accordingly informed. The staff notices one civic employee and two other persons, who are not civic employees, have been taking bribes from international passengers. CISF then informed an official from BMC’s H-West ward, following which a surprise inspection was organised. BMC officials caught Gawande with some money and a fake stamp.