Deficiencies in civil works: Haryana govt to chargesheet 80 irrigation department officials
The Haryana government has ordered that 80 engineering officials including a number of class 1 officials of the irrigation and water resources department be charge-sheeted for major and minor penalty.
The action has been initiated after samples of the civil works being undertaken by the department failed quality tests in 16 circles. Officials in the rank of superintending engineer (SEs) and heading these 16 circles would be issued a charge sheet for minor penalty while those in the rank of executive engineer, sub-divisional officer and junior engineer would be chargesheeted for major penalty.
Chief minister Nayab Singh Saini has approved disciplinary action against these officials. Certain chief engineer rank officials will also get a displeasure note from the state government, officials said.Officials said that samples of ongoing civil works and installation of high density polyethylene pipe were collected for quality check by the office of superintending engineer, vigilance of the irrigation department in November-December 2024.
'The testing was done at IIT, Ropar, NIT, Kurukshetra and Shri Ram Lab at New Delhi. A lot of deficiencies were found in the civil works and the samples did not meet the parameters set by the Indian Standards Code. The testing revealed use of inferior quality material. Also, construction parameters were not met,'' said an official.
Officials said that a committee under the lead of chief engineer (coordination) Jai Deep Rao has been constituted to frame chargesheets against the errant officials.
Irrigation and water resources minister Shruti Choudhry said that compromise on the quality of construction material will not be tolerated. '48 samples of construction materials used in various ongoing projects of the Irrigation department were collected out of which 18 failed quality tests,' Choudhry said.
The minister said some of the projects were nearing completion, a stage where the accountability of officials increases significantly. After repeated complaints, the vigilance wing of the department conducted raids and took samples, she said.
Punishment for major penalty under Rule 7 of Haryana Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules entailed compulsory retirement, dismissal from service, withholding of increment with cumulative effect, withholding of promotion for more than a year, reduction to a lower stage in the pay band or pay scale for a specified period.
Punishment for minor penalty under Rule 8 of Haryana Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules included issuing a warning (with a copy in the personal file), censure, withholding of promotion for a year, recovery of any pecuniary loss caused by negligence or breach of orders, withholding of increment without cumulative effect.
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