Bridge collapse: Arrest of BMC engineers condemned

A union of engineers of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Thursday condemned the arrest of two civic engineers in connection with last month's foot overbridge (FOB) collapse near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) here.

In a letter addressed to civic chief Ajoy Mehta, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Engieers' Union (BMEU) said, in such cases only engineers could not be held responsible.

So far, two engineers of the civic body- assistant engineer S F Kakulte and executive engineer A R Patil- have been arrested by the Mumbai police in connection with the FOB collapse incident, which claimed the lives of six people.

The BMC engineers are "civil servants" carrying out their "specified duties", the BMEU said.

"Municipal engineers are always overloaded with work due to the shortage of staff...In this case, the exact cause of the bridge collapse is yet to be established," it said.

"Further, a consultant was also appointed to give structural stability report of the bridge. It is also understood that some cosmetic changes were carried out under the control of assistant commissioner in 'A' ward in 2016...In such cases, only engineers working in the bridge department cannot be held responsible," the letter said.

"If there are any lapses in the supervision or any other service, punishment for that should be given as per the Municipal Service Rules," the union said.

Referring to the collapse of a British-era bridge on Savitri river at Mahad in Raigad district of Maharashtra during the 2016 monsoon, it said it was appropriate that no action was taken against engineers in that case as it was an "accident".

"The arrest of engineers, who are civic servants, gives a very bad message to the engineers working in the BMC...In future, such action will definitely prevent the entry of good engineers in the BMC," it said.