02-07-2025
PWD gets full-time secretary after CM cracks whip over ROB flaw
Bhopal: The state govt has appointed a full-time principal secretary to the Public Works Department (PWD) after six months, reinstating senior bureaucrat Sukh Veer Singh days after CM Mohan Yadav ordered disciplinary action in the wake of serious design flaws in the Aishbagh railway overbridge (ROB) project in Bhopal.
The public works department has seen four officers in the past year and a half. When the incumbent state govt was formed, Sukh Veer Singh was the principal secretary, PWD. DP Ahuja was placed as PS, PWD, and Singh was transferred. Later, additional chief secretary KC Gupta headed the department, but in Dec, the PWD dept's additional charge was given to additional chief secretary Neeraj Mandloi.
After CM Mohan Yadav on Saturday took action against the faulty design of the Aishbagh ROB incident in Bhopal, the govt posted a full-time PS to the department and brought back Sukh Veer Singh, known as a strict officer in MP, back to the PWD department.
The CM wrote on social media, "Serious negligence was observed in the construction of the Aishbagh ROB, and I ordered an investigation into the matter. Based on the investigation report, action was taken against eight engineers from the PWD. Seven engineers, including two CEs, were suspended with immediate effect. A departmental inquiry will be conducted against one retired SE."
Due to the submission of a faulty design for the ROB in this project, both the construction agency and the design consultant have been blacklisted. A committee has been formed to address the necessary improvements in the ROB. The ROB will be inaugurated only after the improvements are made," the CM wrote.
