All engineers of the bridges department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have gone on mass leave for 13 days, protesting the arrest of a retired chief engineer.
As part of their probe into the foot overbridge collapse near Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, which killed seven people, the Azad Maidan police have arrested S.O. Kori, a retired chief engineer with the bridges department. Mr. Kori was in-charge of the department until he retired in December last year. He was arrested on charges of negligence and, has been sent to police custody till May 10. This is the fourth arrest in the case.
“We are undergoing a lot of stress. All this should stop, because tomorrow, any engineer could be arrested in any case. Then what are consultants for? Their job is to audit bridges,” Sainath Rajadhyaksha, president, Municipal Engineers’ Union, said.
Representatives of several civic engineers’ unions met Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta on Wednesday. In the afternoon, they staged a protest at the BMC’s engineering hub in Worli. “This is a spontaneous protest. We met the commissioner in the morning and expressed our concerns over Mr. Kori’s arrest. He gave a positive response. We will be holding an official meeting of all engineers on Thursday to discuss the future course of action,” Mr. Rajadhyaksha said.
An engineer said, “If this is the atmosphere, who will want to work in the BMC? A man like Mr. Kori, who has such a clean image, was arrested. Two engineers have been arrested in the past. But when the bridge collapsed on the Savitri river in Mahad years ago, was anyone arrested? The BMC is soft target.”
Sukhdev Kashid, general secretary, Municipal Mazdoor Union, said there is a process within the BMC to investigate matters. “Is the Municipal Commissioner not competent enough that the police have to take matters into their own hands? Does the State government want to divert attention from other things by doing this arrest? We will fight this legally.” Mr. Kashid also said the real culprits are being protected in the BMC.
