MUMBAI: Amid the controversy over the reinstatement of suspended police officer Sachin Waze, it has emerged that the BMC last year reinstated two engineers who were indicted in the 2017 Kamala Mills fire enquiry and were ordered to be removed from municipal service.
The reinstatement was approved by the BMC in May 2020 citing shortage of staff to fight the Covid-19 pandemic – the same reason cited for Waze’s reinstatement – and they were taken back later last year.
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To take back two engineers indicted in the Kamla Mills fire probe and who were subsequently ordered to be dismissed as they were charged with negligence, dereliction of duty and connivance with malafide intention now reeks of mala fide intent. The BMC must scrap their reinstatement and ensure that such tainted officials are kept out.
Assistant engineer M G Shelar and junior engineer Dharmaraj Shinde were found guilty in the BMC’s departmental enquiry (DE) into the Kamala Mills fire and charged with criminal negligence, dereliction of duty, connivance with malafide intention and failure to take action. Apart from the two, the BMC has reinstated sub-engineer Dinesh Mahale who was found guilty in the departmental probe and punished with severe reduction in pay.
All three were suspended the day after a fire broke out at 1Above and Mojo’s Bistro rooftop restaurants in December 2017, killing 14 people. All three were posted in G-South ward when the fire broke out. The DE report made by the then additional municipal commissioner Vijay Singhal had stated that there was serious negligence and connivance on the part of the officials.
A senior civic official said that after the order to dismiss them was issued, the engineers were given a hearing. “After the DE report, they are given punishment. But in case of removal from service, they are given another hearing before a final termination order is passed. In this case, the DE was over in 2019 and then a hearing was given but so far, it looks like a final termination order hasn’t been given,” the official said.