E-Paper
Moshi building collapse: PCMC suspends two officials; departmental probes ordered
The civic body had issued show-cause notices to the two officials following the July 8 incident, in which a massive garbage mound collapsed onto the administrative building of the waste-to-energy plant at the Moshi garbage depot.
PUNE
The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) on Wednesday suspended two senior officials from its environment engineering department and ordered departmental inquiries against them over alleged lapses linked to the Moshi garbage depot tragedy that claimed nine lives earlier this month.
Municipal commissioner Vijay Suryawanshi issued separate suspension orders against Sanjay Narayan Kulkarni, chief engineer and head of the environment engineering department, and Yogesh Sopan Alhat, executive engineer. The suspensions took immediate effect after their replies to the show-cause notices issued on Monday were unsatisfactory.
The civic body had issued show-cause notices to the two officials following the July 8 incident, in which a massive garbage mound collapsed onto the administrative building of the waste-to-energy plant at the Moshi garbage depot. Twenty-three people were inside the building when the accident occurred. Five employees escaped immediately, while rescue teams pulled out nine survivors during the 84-hour operation. Nine others lost their lives.
According to the suspension orders, Kulkarni, as head of the department, was responsible for supervising operations at the Moshi garbage depot, monitoring the stability of garbage mounds and ensuring the implementation of safety measures. Alhat, as executive engineer, was directly responsible for day-to-day field operations and enforcing environmental and safety norms at the site.
The commissioner observed that both officers had failed in their supervisory responsibilities and found their explanations to the show-cause notices “unsatisfactory.” The orders state that they displayed “serious negligence in the discharge of official duties,” ignored public safety concerns and failed to ensure compliance with environmental norms, resulting in administrative lapses that allegedly contributed to the deaths of nine contract workers.
Suryawanshi said, “Considering the serious negligence in official duties, failure to discharge government responsibilities, administrative lapses by overlooking officers’ misconduct, violations of environmental norms and the deaths of nine contract workers, it has been decided to place the officers under immediate suspension and initiate departmental inquiries.”
Officials said the inquiries will be conducted under the Maharashtra Civil Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules. During the suspension period, both officers must remain at the Pimpri headquarters without prior permission, refrain from taking up any other employment or business, and cooperate with the departmental inquiry.
Meanwhile, Kulkarni’s charge was handed over to chief engineer Pramod Ombhase, while executive engineer Soham Nikam was assigned Alhat’s responsibilities until further orders.
