Of 100 officials investigated, 96 held guilty; BMC commissioner Ajoy Mehta comes down heavily on perpetrators
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A probe of the Rs 352 crore-road scam, which shook the BMC two years ago, has finally revealed why the country's richest civic body is possibly also the most corrupt. Of the 100 civic employees, who were investigated, 96 have been held guilty for the scam with four to be removed from service with immediate effect."
In 2016, the first phase of the civic body's inquiry report had concluded that work on 34 city roads - built between 2013 and 2015 - was sub-standard and led to a loss of '14 crore. Following the report's findings, the civic chief had suspended then chief engineer (vigilance) UM Murudkar and chief engineer (building maintenance) Ashok Pawar, for failing to perform their duties. Later, SIT arrested one more official - executive engineer Kishor Yerme - on charges of helping contractors by collecting fines for their shoddy job.
Investigations on the road repairs first began after mayor Snehal Ambekar demanded a probe in 2015
Now, fresh investigations have pinned the blame on almost all the employees, with four roads department officials already being shown the door. According to a senior BMC official, the four guilty officials have been identified as deputy chief engineer TN Kumar, assistant engineer Umesh Kamath, sub-engineer TN Nagarsoge and sub-engineer SB Gade. Meanwhile, seven others will face reduction in rank for two years during which no increment will be granted. Another three employees will get no pension and nearly 65 employees will be denied an increment over a period of two to three years. Eleven other employees have been slapped with a fine of Rs 10,000.
"The malice and rot is deep. There is need to strike at the root with exemplary punishment to the perpetrators of this organised loot. At the same time, it is also important that whose role has been limited are given punishment commensurate with their negligence/level of connivance. It was thus, important to impose punishments prudently and based on fair and transparent mechanism," an order by civic commissioner Ajoy Mehta read.
Ajoy Mehta, BMC commissioner
Incidentally, the inquiry on 200 roads is still to be completed, and 82 officials, whose names cropped up in both the phases of the road inquiry, are likely to face more action. The issue first came to light after the then mayor Snehal Ambekar demanded a probe on the shoddy road repair works.
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No. of employees to be denied increment for 2-3 years
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