MCG engineer in dock over Gurugram Sector 15 inundation
MCG commissioner Pradeep Dahiya filed a 'charge sheet' against a junior engineer under Rule 7 of the Haryana Civil Services (Punishment & Appeal) Rules, 2016, for gross negligence in failing to operationalise a key drainage facility at Gulmohar Park, Sector 15.In violation of the rules, he ignored repeated directives over the past several months to install a power connection to activate the motor pumps at the sump well in the area.
Despite repeated instructions from senior officials, the junior engineer did not ensure an electricity connection for a sump-well dewatering system, part of a ₹1.23-crore project completed in July 2024 to prevent monsoon flooding. The setup includes two 45-horsepower (hp) and a 20-hp pump, which remain defunct due to lack of power—a task that was under his purview, according to the 'charge sheet' and senior officials. The official was suspended indefinitely with immediate effect, officials said.
'Lapses in critical public services will not be tolerated. Officials will be held directly accountable,' Dahiya said. The MCG notice, dated April 22, 2025, outlines the alleged failure of junior engineer Ravinder Kumar to secure electricity, test equipment, or commission the system at Bandh Road, Sector 15 Part-II. Officials said his inaction resulted in repeated flooding and public inconvenience.
Civic teams repeatedly found no progress at the site, with the engineer allegedly offering unsatisfactory responses. 'Leaving it idle for over nine months is unacceptable,' Dahiya added.
Residents expressed anger at the recurring waterlogging. 'Every monsoon, we hear solutions are in place, yet the roads flood again,' said Rakesh Bhatnagar, a Sector 15 resident.
The disciplinary action is expected to serve as a warning as MCG pushes for accelerated monsoon preparedness. 'Public money must yield public benefit,' said the commissioner.
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What the AAP is doing to win this election is morally and ethically wrong.' Divya Goyal is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Punjab. Her interest lies in exploring both news and feature stories, with an effort to reflect human interest at the heart of each piece. She writes on gender issues, education, politics, Sikh diaspora, heritage, the Partition among other subjects. She has also extensively covered issues of minority communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She also explores the legacy of India's partition and distinct stories from both West and East Punjab. She is a gold medalist from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, the most revered government institute for media studies in India, from where she pursued English Journalism (Print). Her research work on 'Role of micro-blogging platform Twitter in content generation in newspapers' had won accolades at IIMC. She had started her career in print journalism with Hindustan Times before switching to The Indian Express in 2012. Her investigative report in 2019 on gender disparity while treating women drug addicts in Punjab won her the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2020. She won another Laadli for her ground report on the struggle of two girls who ride a boat to reach their school in the border village of Punjab. ... Read More
