Road scam: 13 engineers to appeal against punishment

Thirteen of 96 engineers named by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation in the first phase of the multi-crore road repair scam will be appealing against the punishment awarded to them. While a few of them have already filed an appeal, others have sought documents pertaining to their case to file an appeal, officials at BMC confirmed. The civic body has nominated a deputy municipal commissioner as the appellate officer to deal with these cases. “We have nominated an appellate officer and are receiving appeals too. Investigation and punishments awarded are one thing, but it is their democratic right to appeal,” said an official.

After the multi-crore road scam came to light in 2016, BMC was prompted to take action against the six contractors found guilty in the first phase of inquiry. By April 2016, all six had been booked in an FIR. Fast forward to April 2017, when the civic body submitted its second inquiry report to civic chief Ajoy Mehta, this time indicting 11 contractors. Mehta immediately ordered that an FIR be registered. Following this a two phase inquiry was set up by BMC to investigate its own engineers.

The inquiry committee headed by Deputy Municipal Commissioner Ramesh Bambale, in its report, had pinned down 100 engineers, detailing their roles in the scam and finally on January 6, 96 were awarded punishments, while four got reprieve.

According to the inquiry report, in the first and second phase, 185 engineers were under the scanner of which 180 were found guilty. In the first phase, 34 roads were inspected while in the second, 200 inspected. Of the total 180 engineers, 96 were found guilty only in the first phase while 169 were indicted in both the phases. The first phase of the inquiry saw four engineers being dismissed and the second saw two. Punishment recommended for other engineers includes reduction in rank, reduction in pension, no increment next year, fines etc.

“Those who have objection or disagree with the nature and extent of punishment awarded are contemplating appealing. While some have appealed already, others have sought documents such as their own statements to analyse how it was considered in the case. They will be given hearing on the same,” said a senior BMC official. Following the road scam the civic body has proposed major changes to the tendering process for civic contracts.

Some of them include relaxation of norms to encourage bidders, implementation of uniform tender conditions for all departments and a mandatory five-year warranty period for contractors. Also, considering the manipulation in records maintained by contractors and civic engineers, the civic body is likely to introduce geo-tagging for all works. Furthermore, the civic body has disallowed third party auditors. “All these changes have been brought to keep a check on irregularities and discourage any kind of nexus between contractors and civic officials,” said Mehta.

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