BMC goes on the offensive, gets 10 auditors who approved poor quality roads arrested
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Local Press Co 5-point Snippet
1. In a surprise move, ten employees of audit firms, that were appointed by BMC to inspect road work, were arrested on Wednesday night in connection with the Rs 350 crore road scam.
2. The accused are employees of two firms, Indian Register of Shipping (IRS) and Geneva-based SGS India Pvt Ltd. The arrested have been identified as Rakesh Merwade (34), Santosh Kadam (42), Ashfaque Sayyed (26), Premanand Dhanawade (37), Milind Kumavat (26), Pavankumar Shukla (26), Dheeraj Phooljhele (40), Mangesh Talekar (33), Rahul Shinde (29) and Dhauryashil Patil (33).
3. The move to arrest private auditors has raised eyebrows as this is the first time such a stringent action has been taken against them. Even in the past, auditors have come under the scanner for malpractices, but they were always let go with a warning, or blacklisted or heavily fined.
4. But, according to BMC chief Ajoy Mehta, the arrest are necessary as it will act as a deterrent in future. The auditors were arrested after they signed documents which implied that the work was done and recommended the civic body to clear their bills.
5. Earlier this year, BMC’s enquiry into 34 city roads found irregularities in all of them. However, the bills of all the contractors were cleared by the auditors. That’s when the civic body turned their eye to the auditors. The arrested auditors have been sent to police custody till June 21.
