Among the officers who face suspension are A R Patil, the executive engineer who had supervised the audit work in 2017-18 and S F Kakulte, the assistant engineer who supervised repair work in 2013-14
In a series of reactions to Thursday's FOB (foot-over-bridge) collapse, civic chief Ajoy Mehta suspended two engineers who supervised its structural audit work in 2017-18 and repair work in 2013-14; ordered a departmental enquiry against three other officials; and decided to blacklist a structural audit firm as well as file an FIR against it.
On Friday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner directed the Chief Engineer (Vigilance) to submit an enquiry report on the tragic incident at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaja Terminus (CSMT) within 24 hours. The report submitted on Friday evening, a copy of which is available with DNA, said structural audit was conducted in an irresponsible and negligent manner. "It appears to have completely overlooked the critical elements of the bridge and their condition, which lead to this tragedy," the report noted.
Among the officers who face suspension are A R Patil, the executive engineer who had supervised the audit work in 2017-18 and S F Kakulte, the assistant engineer who supervised repair work in 2013-14. Among the three officials who will face a departmental enquiry, two have already retired and one was a chief engineer. The then chief engineer S O Kori, who is now retired, deputy chief engineer R B Tare and executive engineer A I Engineer of Bridge Department face a departmental enquiry. Audit firm D D Desai's Associated Engineering Consultants & Analysis Pvt. Ltd and repair firm M/s RPS Infrastructure will be blacklisted and all payments to them will be stopped.
The report highlights that the structural audit report had said the bridge was in good condition and only needed minor repairs. However, it should have taken into account repair work undertaken in 2013 which added 1.43 tons of steel to the structure, in addition to polymer mortar and hand-railing work. However, officers failed to notice this.
The chief engineer in charge of Friday's assessment reported that there is indication of lack or absence of supervision of the audit work, and suggested the supervising engineers should be held be responsible.
The report also calls for a Bridge Inspection Authority to be set up in the corporation within a month. Mehta said that 374 bridges come under BMC's jurisdiction, which calls for the post of a Chief Bridge engineer. The director of Engineering Services and Projects is vested with the responsibility to prepare a plan to set up this authority. The person occupying the new post will have to define intervals at which the bridges should be inspected and allot responsibility to various bridge maintenance engineers, among other duties.
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