Thane: 4 civic engineers suspended over poor road conditions; task forced formed

Later in the day, a task force was formed under Thane collector Rajesh Narvekar in a meeting chaired on the issue of potholed and damaged roads by state UD minister Eknath Shinde.Shinde said heavy vehicles will be prohibited from entering Thane city limits between 12 noon and 4pm everyday till road repairs, which will be overseen by the task force, are completed.Temporary parking lots will be made in Navi Mumbai, Palghar and Padgha for vehicles frequenting JNPT port, Shinde informed.

Four engineers of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) in Maharashtra were on Saturday placed under suspension for dereliction of duty over the poor condition of roads in the city, an official said.

The action has come a day after District Guardian Minister Eknath Shinde took a tour of the pothole-riddled roads in Thane and warned of severe action against officials responsible for poor road conditions.

Thane Municipal Commissioner Dr Vipin Sharma has suspended junior engineer Sandeep Gaikwad (Lokmanya-Savarkar Nagar ward), executive engineer Prakash Khadtare (Vartak Nagar ward), deputy engineer Sandeep Sawant (Lokmanya-Savarkar Nagar ward) and executive engineer Chetan Patel (Utalsar ward), the official said.

The suspension orders were issued by the TMC's additional municipal commissioner Sanjay Herwade, it was stated.

As per the order, the engineers were responsible for proper maintenance of roads and check the quality of repair work, which they had not done, resulting in the problems of the roads getting damaged.

Although road repairs had been sanctioned with a proper budget, the work done was substandard and these engineers had not supervised the same properly, the order stated. Later in the day, a task force was formed under Thane collector Rajesh Narvekar in a meeting chaired on the issue of potholed and damaged roads by state UD minister Eknath Shinde.

Shinde said heavy vehicles will be prohibited from entering Thane city limits between 12 noon and 4pm everyday till road repairs, which will be overseen by the task force, are completed.

Temporary parking lots will be made in Navi Mumbai, Palghar and Padgha for vehicles frequenting JNPT port, Shinde informed. He also asked Thane and Raigad collectors to locate a plot to build a permanent trucking terminal.