Coimbatore: Officials to probe irregularities in road work in four wards

COIMBATORE: City corporation commissioner M Prathap has recommended an independent inquiry by a team of engineering officials with the commissionerate of municipal administration (CMA) into the road work carried out under the Tamil Nadu Urban Road Infrastructure Fund (TURIF) at a cost of 1.82 crore in 2019-20.
The move comes after TOI exposed irregularities in laying the roads. While an administrative sanction was given to lay the roads in wards 38, 39, 40 and 44, residents of Dispensary Road, Jaganathapuram Road, Sengaliapppan Nagar and Cape Neem Land near Sengaliappan Nagar they said the roads were not laid in their localities during the period.
An internal probe by the city corporation, meanwhile, revealed that some roads were laid in places that were not approved by the commissionerate of municipal administration or corporation commissioner. But this should be validated by the independent probe.
In a statement, the city corporation said the administrative sanction was received on November 19, 2019, to lay 17 roads in wards 38, 39, 40 and 44. Nine of them were laid in approved places and the remaining eight elsewhere without any approval, it said.
The corporation commissioner said the engineering officials concerned had not obtained a deviation order to lay the roads in unapproved places.
“I personally inspected two areas where the roads were laid on unapproved stretches. The roads are completely damaged now. The independent inquiry by CMA officials will give a clear picture,” he said.
Prathap said the erring assistant engineers and assistant executive engineers would face the music. One assistant executive engineer and three assistant engineers were involved in the work. “A show cause notice will be served on them in a day or two. Appropriate action will be taken against them based on their explanations.”
According to activist S P Thiyagarajan, funds were sanctioned to the contractor without verifying whether the roads were laid or not.
The corporation commissioner confirmed that no deviation of work was noticed after 2021-22.