Team Herald
PANJIM: Suspecting substandard works, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday ordered suspension of two PWD engineers and to hold inquiry into work of major roads sanctioned during the last three years after initiating fact finding inquiry.
Stating that there is possibility of substandard work during execution of the roads, the order issued by the Chief Minister said, “Hence, it is necessary that for all such major roads fact finding exercise needs to be conducted and action taken be informed within 45 days.”
Also PWD assistant engineer and the junior engineer responsible for the Chorla Ghat to Sanquelim road have been placed under suspension pending inquiry for substandard work and for not showing inclination in prioritising works. The suspension order is pertaining to improvement of existing road admeasuring 27-km from Chorla Ghat to Sanquelim.
In the order, the Chief Minister has charged that the contractor had refrained from prioritising the 10-km road stretch passing through densely populated Sanquelim to Keri area and instead given priority to 17-km roads stretch from Keri to Chorla Ghat. Quality control appears to have been compromised since the top layer ie Bituminous Concrete (BC) layer had slipped away at many places, the order observed.
The Chief Minister has also ordered third party audit of the work at the cost of the contractor. The third party audit is must and the cost of the same has to be recovered from the contractor.
The government had sanctioned several major road works during the last three years. There is every possibility such instances might have occurred during execution of other roads. Hence it is necessary that for all such major roads, fact finding exercise needs to be conducted and action taken be informed within 45 days, states the order.
Deepak Pauskar was the PWD Minister during the last three years.
