finance department

At least two of the four BMC engineers arrested on Friday on charges of negligence in connection with the Dockyard Road building crash that killed 61 had written several letters alerting their seniors about the structure’s condition, documents with Mumbai Mirror show.Planning and design department’s deputy chief engineer (retired) Vilas Sagvekar and executive engineer Mahendrakumar Patel wrote letters to ward officials, the markets department and also to their superiors saying the building was in a pathetic state and that residents should be immediately evacuated.Worse, instead of taking cognisance of their warnings – written in July and August 2012 – an assistant commissioner from the markets department went ahead and allotted tenements to two families of BMC workers. One family died in the crash, while the other survived.Though the documents identify the official who made these allotments in August 2013 as merely “assistant commissioner of the markets department”, Mirror has confirmed Chandrashekar Chore was the official in that post at the time the allotments were made. Chore was unavailable for comment.Despite the letters, Chore seems to have allotted two flats to his employees in August 2013 – Amol Patankar and Mahadev Kamble were allotted flats on the fourth and third floors. Amol Patankar died in the crash and his wife Pooja succumbed a few days later at JJ hospital. The Kambles survived the crash.Sanjog Kabre, assistant commissioner, EWard, was another senior level recipient of the warning letters who did not take any action. “The paper trail shows that the engineers did their job,” said Advocate Shoaib Memon, who is representing Patel. “Their counterparts and superiors ignored the warnings. When police registered an FIR, these engineers did not even file for anticipatory bail as they were assured that their warning letters will be taken cognisance of. They submitted all the documents to the investigators. Now all of a sudden, they have been put behind bars.”The Municipal Engineers’ Association, which has called for a meeting of all BMC engineers today, also criticised the action against its fellow officials. “The arrests were unwarranted,” said Sukhdeo Kashid, association president. “The engineers were certainly not at fault as is obvious from their submissions. Their superiors are the ones who should be prosecuted.”Though anger against the BMC top brass has been simmering for a while, Friday’ arrest of the four engineers has brought it to the surface. “We are now left with no option but go on indefinite strike,” said Kashid.Mohan Adtani, additional municipal commissioner, said police were doing their job and that the BMC had not played any role in the arrests. “Our internal inquiry is still underway. The police do not need our sanction to arrest engineers,” said Adtani.Apart from Sagvekar and Patel, executive engineer Madhukar Redekar and assistant engineer Shivaji Yele were also arrested by the Sewri police on Friday for alleged negligence in repairing the five-storey Babu Genu Market building that crashed on September 27, killing 61. The 30-year-old building had godowns on the lower floors while the upper floors were given out as tenements for BMC employees.Documents with Mirror reveal Sagvekar, who retired two months before the crash, wrote at least six times to the E-ward and markets department, the two departments responsible for the building, asking them to immediately evacuate the residents.Sagvekar visited the building on July 4, 2012, and noticed that an unauthorised mezzanine floor had come up in one of the godowns and was adding to the weight of the structure. He wrote a detailed letter on July 6 to the assistant commissioners of the E-ward and the markets department, explaining that the building may not survive the monsoon. He asked them to order the demolition of the mezzanine floor immediately. He also suggested that props be erected to safeguard neighbouring buildings and passersby.Amonth later, Sagvekar wrote to the BMC’sseeking permission to appoint a consultant for a detailed study. Subsequently, Pentacle Consultant was appointed and surveyed the building in October 2012. The consultants in November 2012 confirmed that the building was in a bad state and in urgent need of repairs. They also recommended temporarily shifting the occupants. Meanwhile, exchanges between the markets department and E-ward show the two had discussed measures to erect props and evacuate the building, but did nothing.Patel, who had joined as an executive engineer in the planning and design department in January 2013, also wrote to the accounts department regarding the consultant’s report.In January, Sagvekar too wrote to the mechanical and electrical department and water works department among others asking them to prepare the estimates for repairing the building.The mechanical and electrical department did not give their inputs, without which the estimates could not be prepared. Nothing was done till September, when the building collapsed.