Congress Leader Demands Inquiry After Ten BMC Engineers Decline Promotions
On Thursday, Congress group leader Ashraf Azmi demanded a detailed fact-finding inquiry after at least ten Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) engineers in Mumbai declined eligible promotions. The unusual refusal of promotions by two executive engineers and eight assistant engineers, along with another executive engineer who withheld his documents, has raised concerns over potential vested interests or undue influence within the civic body.
Azmi raised the issue during a BMC Standing Committee meeting on Thursday. He has also written a formal letter to the BMC commissioner seeking an investigation into the circumstances surrounding these cases.
The promotions involved two executive engineers who were eligible to become deputy chief engineers, and eight assistant engineers who were eligible to become executive engineers. In addition to these ten, another executive engineer did not submit his documents for the promotion process.
These promotions had faced prolonged delays due to technical issues and consequential court proceedings. Azmi questioned why multiple officers would reject advancement once it finally became available to them.
"Why would anybody refuse to accept a promotion despite becoming eligible after a prolonged delay caused by technical issues and consequential court proceedings?" Azmi said. "The refusal of promotions across two levels of the engineering cadre is highly unusual and raises legitimate concerns."
Azmi stated that the civic body needs to conduct a detailed fact-finding inquiry to examine the written representations, if any, submitted by the concerned officers for declining the promotions.
The demanded inquiry would identify the specific departments, projects, divisions, and assignments in which these officers are presently posted. According to Azmi, this step is necessary to determine whether there is any common factor influencing their decision, or if improper considerations and vested interests are involved in keeping the officers in their current roles.
