E-Paper
PMC fines nine junior engineers for dereliction of duty
PMC has indicted nine junior engineers and fined them for dereliction of duty during different civic works carried out by contractors, officials said on Thursday
PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has indicted nine junior engineers and fined them for dereliction of duty during different civic works carried out by contractors, officials said on Thursday.
Last year, the PMC had appointed a committee to probe 30 different works carried out by the corporation and it was found that nine engineers did not adhere to the norms while clearing the contractors’ bills. The probe committee led by the deputy commissioner (general administration), Rajendra Muthe, found that various bills were cleared without checking the quality and completion of the works by the PMC engineers.
The projects scrutinised by the committee mostly pertained to smaller civic works proposed and approved at the ward level. These works were mostly under Rs10 lakh each. There were over 50 such works scrutinised by the committee, which found that the engineers did not cross-check the samples of material, whether the works were carried out at the desired location or the location was changed without approval and mostly lack of supervision.
“The audit was first carried out by a third party and then the committee went through the report. There were various department heads and officials comprising the committee,” said another officer who was part of the committee.
After the committee submitted its report based on a third-party audit, PMC commissioner Vikram Kumar earlier this week asked the administration to issue a formal order fining each junior engineer to the tune of Rs10,000 and stopping one of their increments, each.
The deputy commissioner-level officer said, “The PMC commissioner has asked for issuing order, which will be carried out within two to three days. It has been decided to fine each engineer Rs10,000 in addition to holding back one increment. The file in this regard has been forwarded to the additional commissioner.”
This year too, the PMC commissioner has asked a third-party audit agency to check pre-monsoon works post which the same committee will scritinise the report if needed. There have been multiple complaints in the past related to irregularities in the contracts awarded and the work carried out by the contractors. Earlier in 2021, even as the PMC had introduced a system to check duplication of development works and issuance of tenders for the same works, the Warje-Karvenagar ward office had called two tenders for the same work of shredding in ward 13 (C) named Erandwane-Happy colony. In another instance, the PMC issued a contract though a contractor that did not carry out the work and yet submitted the bills. The PMC officials later found during the inquiry that there were six works and only one map was attached to each work. The location was the same and the work was pertaining to changing the drainage line. The PMC officials called the ward-level staff and inspected the documents and found that there was a different budget and the contractor had attached the same design and map of work to each work. It was not the same tender though the work was the same. The work was divided into six parts.”
Reasons for being indicted:
Lack of supervision
Changed location
No samples checked of material
Inferior material
Number of works checked: Over 50 projects
Works carried out at the ward level and for under Rs10 lakh each
Nature of fine: ₹10,000 to each junior engineer and one increment on hold
