Road repairs scam: BMC chief engineers held; sent to police

The two are accused of clearing bills of contractors, estimated at Rs 354 crore, without verifying the status of the "repaired roads" in Mumbai

Two Brihanmumai Municipal Corporation (BMC) chief engineers have been remanded to police custody by a local court till July 11 after their arrest in connection with the alleged multi-crore road repairs scam.

Chief engineers Ashok Pawar, 57, and Uday Murudkar, 54, were held late Wednesday evening and were produced before the court yesterday, which sent them to police custody till July 11, a senior police official said.

The two are accused of clearing bills of contractors without verifying the status of the "repaired roads" in the city, the officer said.

Both the engineers have been under suspension since April this year, following a primary inquiry into the alleged scam involving shoddy work by contractors in 34 roads of south Mumbai, western and eastern suburbs; the total cost of the repairs is estimated at nearly Rs 354 crores.

Before suspension, Pawar was posted as chief engineer of civic body's Road and Traffic Department, while Murudkar was chief engineer of Vigilance Department.

BMC Commissioner Ajoy Mehta had suspended the two officers for their alleged failure to supervise construction of the said roads after they were found guilty prima facie by an inquiry committee of the civic body.

Mumbai police has already arrested 22 people in this connection, all private road repair contractors, out of which 20 are out on bail.

BMC commissioner instituted an inquiry into alleged malpractices of Road Department and contractors and initiated action against them after Mumbai Mayor Snehal Ambekar drew the attention of the BMC last year in October to poor road quality.

Mehta submitted a report to the mayor in this regard in April.

BMC also lodged FIRs yesterday against six contractors and two third-party auditors, for their alleged involvement in the scam.