Mumbai: Second round of roads inquiry to begin tomorrow

Each inspection team will comprise six-seven members — an assistant engineer from the vigilance department as well as a joint engineer from the respective ward along with labourers for digging of the trial pits.

Depending on the number of arterial roads which fall within the ambit of the ward, teams will be allotted to the wards. “The inquiry will be conducted under the guidance of the vigilance department. However, owing to the large number of roads involved, the logistic support, including the labourers, will be taken from the ward office,” the official said. He added that the highest number of roads to be inspected were in the western suburbs, followed by the city zone and then the eastern suburbs.

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The department is confident that this round of inquiry will take less time. “We have already completed the process once. Now, we simply have to change the names and values in the report which will take less time. We expect the digging of trial pits to be completed in a month and another two months for the inquiry report to be filed,” said another senior civic official.

He added that unlike in the first round, notices would be issued to all the contractors before the trial pits were dug in the roads they constructed.

“We want to eliminate the chances of a contractor raising objections about how the pit is dug after the inspection. We will thus, give them and the consultant the option of being present during the inspection,” he said.

After the mayor had written to Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta, to demand for a probe into the city roads in October last year, Mehta had ordered an inquiry, same month. It was not until January end, however, when the process of digging trial pits on 34 roads in the suburbs was started. After at least four months, the inquiry report was submitted to Mehta.

Meanwhile, over a week after the Azad Maidan police registered FIRs against six contractors on April 27, the BMC is yet to issue notices to blacklist them. They were found to be guilty of shoddy work on 34 roads inspected in the first round.

Officials in the storm water drains department said, “We have almost completed drafting the notices and will send them to the legal counsel for the final approval after which they will be sent to the contractors in a couple of days,” said L S Vhatkar, Chief Engineer of the SWD department.