The inquiry report pertaining to road works amounting to more than Rs2,500 crore, submitted to mayor Snehal Ambekar by municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta on Monday, also suggests cancelling the registration of two companies — SGS and IRS — handling third-party audit for civic works.
The civic body plans to blacklist six contractors and lodge FIRs against them for irregularities in road works last year. BMC officials have also said that the then chief engineer of the roads department and chief of the vigilance department will be immediately suspended.
The inquiry report pertaining to road works amounting to more than Rs2,500 crore, submitted to mayor Snehal Ambekar by municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta on Monday, also suggests cancelling the registration of two companies — SGS and IRS — handling third-party audit for civic works.
The 150-page inquiry report was prepared by a committee headed by additional municipal commissioner Sanjay Deshmukh and having on board deputy municipal commissioner Vasant Prabhu and chief engineer, bridges, SO Kori. The report recommended action against the top brass, including IAS officers.
Mehta will also ask the inquiry committee to investigate all road works done in the past three years amounting to a whopping Rs7,500 crore.
Samples of 34 roads out of the 200 worked on by the six contractors were checked randomly. The inquiry report has detailed information on the various irregularities, which range from 38% to 100% with an average of 53% being found. There's also a deviation in the bill over the number and length of roads undertaken for works with the underlying crust of the roads missing and most repair works not being executed as specified by the BMC.
Ambekar, who had written letter to Mehta and sought the inquiry report last week, said irregularities were found in the execution of road works. Leader of the House Trushna Vishwasrao had said that until the commissioner submitted the report to the mayor, the members would not allow House proceedings to happen. A ruling party member also threatened the civic chief to move a 'no confidence' motion against him.
While civic standing committee chairman Yashodhar Phanse pointed out that this was the first time that action may be taken against any IAS officer, Ambekar refused to divulge details of the report.
Civic engineers from the roads department are also on the radar. "However, action against them will be taken in the next phase. In the first phase, action will be taken against all senior officials," said a source.
Leader of the BJP in the BMC Manoj Kotak said, "We had demanded the inquiry first, sensing corruption, and we have been proved right. The report clearly reveals complete failure of the administrative machinery as top civic officials were incapable of controlling the irregularities."
Rais Shaikh, leader of the Samajwadi Party in the BMC, said the road scam has been brewing for the last four years. "Since 2013, I have been writing to the BMC. Now that everything is out in the open, the Sena and the BJP are targeting each other, with civic elections round the corner, to show that they have a clean image," he added.
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Mahavir Road Infra Projects
KR Infra Projects
RPS Infrastructure
RK Madani Infra Projects
Relcon Infra Projects
J Kumar Infra Projects Ltd
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