BMC engineers protest against coworkers' arrest

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) engineers are up in arms against the administration for making them “scapegoats” in the Himalaya Bridge collapse incident. A group of engineers on Wednesday protested outside BMC’s Engineering Hub in Worli. A meeting has also been organised by the union to decide on the further course of action.

The feeling of insecurity among the officers started thriving since Municipal Commissioner’s preliminary report found that four BMC engineers were responsible for the bridge collapse. However, after a retired chief engineer of Bridges’s department, Sitlaprasad Kori, was arrested on Monday, the engineers decided to protest on the development. Last month, two more engineers were arrested.

Sainath Rajadhakshya, President BMC Engineers Union said, “It is not fair that the engineers have been arrested and sent to police custody before the final investigation report is out. The final report of committee under the supervision of Secretary, PWD should decide whether they are at fault. Only the contractors should be held responsible as they have the expertise of structural audit and not the engineers. They are made scapegoats and we condem this”.