Mumbai road repairs scam: Civic engineers under the scanner for poor quality of roads

Mumbai city news: The inquiry officer of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has sent show cause notices to 281 road engineers for failing to supervise road repair works.

Civic engineers are the latest addition to the list of organisations, contractors and individuals under the scanner for the poor quality road network in the city. After the suspension of two chief civic engineers in connection to the road scam last year, civic engineers are back under scanner for failing to ensure good roads and supervise the work. The inquiry officer of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has sent show cause notices to 281 road engineers for failing to supervise road repair works.

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Civic chief Ajoy Mehta said, “We have sent show cause notices to all the engineers involved in the 200 roads that were inspected. Further action will depend on their reply.”

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An internal inquiry was initiated after the BMC inspected 200 roads across the city in the second phase. 281 engineers involved at various levels from junior engineers to deputy chief engineers are under the scanner for unsatisfactory work and failing to perform their duty.

The only action taken against engineers so far has been the suspension of Ashok Pawar- chief engineer (roads) and Uday Murudkar, chief engineer (vigilance).

Read: Mumbai civic body blacklists 11 road contractors

While the inquiry states that the road contractors did a shoddy job in repairing roads, it was the responsibility of the engineers to ensure that contractors work and deliver better quality roads.

Last year, after an initial inquiry report where BMC had inspected 34 roads which highlighted complete failure of administrative machinery, 90 civic engineers were under the scanner. After the inquiry, two chief engineers from the road and vigilance department were suspended. 10 employees of 2 third-party quality auditor firms and engineers from contractors’ firms were in police custody.

Read: Mumbai road scam: BMC issues notices to 7 contractors, blacklists them