‘Make assault non-bailable offence’

Even as the attacks on civic engineers have gone up, the state government has been turning a deaf ear to their demands of making such offences non-bailable.

According to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Engineers Joint Action Committee (BMCEJAC), in a year’s period there have been 13 instances of assaults on civic engineers by corporators, political activists and contractors erecting illegal constructions. However, very little has been done by the state government to ensure that offenders get punished.

Sainath Rajadhyaksha, general secretary of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Engineers Union (BMEU), said, “BMC engineers are soft targets as they are always on the field. So they get beaten for no fault of theirs. There are several reasons for potholes on the roads such as haphazard trenching, several utilities working on them,among others. However, engineers are singled out for the failure in pothole repairs.”

In a letter written to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, the BMEJAC has demanded that attack on civic officials should be made a non-bailable offence on the lines of the law for doctors.

“We have been making this demand for the last 10 years, but the state government has not bothered to consider it. When Swadhin Kshatriya was the municipal commissioner a few years ago, he had sent a letter to the state in this regard. Now, as he is a state chief secretary, we will pursue this matter with him,” said Mr Rajadhyaksha.

In the BMC, 4,200 engineers are working in various departments. Many appointed to carry out demolitions are not keen to take up the job, as they are worried about backlash and political pressure.