Navi Mumbai: After CM Eknath Shinde inspected the Mumbai-Goa highway to ensure motorists travelling towards the Konkan region for the Ganpati festival are not inconvenienced by pothole-ridden road, an FIR of culpable homicide, not amounting to murder, has been registered at Mangaon police station in Raigad against erring officials of the contractor firm.
The officials are allegedly responsible for negligence and shoddy work on the tender allotted for the quadrupling and widening of a 26.7-km stretch of the Mumbai-Goa highway from Indapur to Vadapale. This negligence has resulted in 107 motor vehicle accidents, including 97 fatalities, and 208 people sustaining injuries.
The FIR has been registered against the managing director of M/s Chetak Enterprises Ltd (M/s Chetak Appco (JV)), identified as Hukmichand Jain, general manager Awadhesh Singh, and project coordinating engineer Sujit Kawle, among other concerned officials. The accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, endangering human life or personal safety of others, and criminal liability when two or more individuals act with common intention.
Raigad SP Somnath Gharge said that the work of quadrupling the 26.7-km highway from Indapur to Vadapale was awarded by the central govt to the joint venture of Chetak Enterprises Limited and Appco Infrastructure Limited from June to December 2017. Govt also transferred 91.80% of the unencumbered land required for the highway extension work. The said work was to be completed by the contractor within a period of two years. Even after the expiry of the said period, the contractor did not complete the work at the rate of 10% per month. The contractor was issued a show-cause notice thrice by the highway authority.
In fact, the authorised engineer appointed by the central govt to supervise the quality control of the said work from time to time, M/s Bloom LLC, USA, Mahad branch, issued a non-confirmation report (NCR). However, no improvement was observed in the work of the said contractor, as mentioned in the report.
SP Gharge said that in some places, where the work was completed, motorists were compelled to take diversions due to the ongoing work and drive on undafe roads. “There were locations where the work was incomplete, and on some stretches of the highway, no safety measures were taken to prevent any danger to the motorists. Due to the lack of understanding and predictability of the situation, many accidents have occurred on the Mumbai-Goa highway and many passengers have suffered serious as well as minor injuries,” said Gharge.