Bridge collapse: 2 civic engineers suspended, inquiry ordered

Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta on Friday suspended two civic engineers and ordered an inquiry against them in connection with the footover bridge collapse incident which claimed six lives.

He also ordered a departmental inquiry against the two engineers besides an executive engineer and two retired chief engineers of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

The official gave the directions following an inquiry conducted into the incident by the chief engineer (vigilance).

Executive engineer A R Patil, who had supervised the structural audit of the bridge in 2017-18, and assistant engineer S F Kakulte who had supervised its repair works in 2013-14, were suspended and a full-fledged departmental probe ordered against them, an official said.

Mehta also ordered a departmental inquiry against former chief engineer (bridges) S O Kori and former deputy chief engineer R B Tare--both retired.

The inquiry report said these four officers were responsible for poor supervision of