engineers

BMC

road scam probe

Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta

road repair works

Of the 185probed for irregularities, 180 found guilty.Thehas terminated services of two engineers and taken action against 83 others in the second and final phase of the. This brings the number of engineers found guilty in the road scam to 180, with only five completely acquitted. The report was published by the BMC on Friday.Mumbai Mirror has been reporting about Rs 352-crore road scam since it broke two years ago. On December 27 last year, Mirror was the first to report about a hundred engineers in the dock for irregularities in the road scam’s first phase probe that involved 34 roads. In the second phase, the quality of 200 roads was inspected and a detailed inquiry carried out.The inquiries were triggered by former Mayor Snehal Ambekar’s confidential letter toin which she alleged malpractices inThe work on all 34 roads was found to be shoddy by an average of 53 per cent.In the second phase, a total of 169 engineers were probed, including 84 involved in the first phase as well. The same 84 have been found guilty, and their punishment has increased. The names of 16 from the first phase did not resurface in the second phase of the probe.Among the new 85, two engineers’ services have been terminated while eight engineers have had their rank and pay reduced to the basic level. They will not get any increment for two years. The pension of three engineers has been scaled down.The highest number of engineers facing a type of punishment is 40. Their next increment has been stopped for a year with permanent effect. Only one has been censured. The highest numbers of employees of a single rank facing action are sub-engineers.Of the 100 engineers probed in the first phase, names of 84 have resurfaced in the second phase as well. Together, their punishment has been increased.The last time the corporation had taken such a stern action against road contractors was in 2007. The roads scam case is being investigated by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Mumbai Police.