THIRUVANANTHAPURAM / KOCHI: The PWD principal secretary on Saturday suspended assistant executive engineer V K Shylamol for allegedly leaking to the media a report which was submitted earlier to the Vigilance pointing out irregularities in Vyttila flyover’s construction.
The report, prepared by Shylamol during the second phase of inspection, states the construction of the flyover was of inferior standard as it did not follow the prescribed concreting procedures. However, experts from Kothamangalam Mar Athanasius College inspected the construction during the third phase and came to the conclusion that there were no irregularities in the construction. So the PWD Minister’s office made it clear that the engineer had leaked an old report to media to tarnish the department’s image.
“We’ve taken the action based on the report submitted by chief engineer, National Highway. As part of the construction, the PWD design wing had conducted tests in their laboratory on a regular basis. The said officer, part of the wing, was supposed to submit the report to the executive engineer. Instead, she leaked the report without waiting for further tests. As the officer has committed gross dereliction, we’ve suspended her as part of a departmental probe,” said a PWD top official.
The department also clarified the quality-control wing did not find any faults in the construction so far. Sreedhanya Constructions was given a contract for building the overbridge. The report said the quality of the concrete in deck slab and girder was unsatisfactory. It also pointed out senior officers, including the executive engineer, did not visit and inspect the site to check the concrete mixture or supervise the works.
A committee to supervise the construction of Vyttila and Kundanoor flyovers was set up with PWD Department Principal Secretary Kamalavardhana Rao as the commissioner and chief engineers as its members. Nearly 70 per cent of the flyover’s construction has been completed. Concreting work on deck slab is progressing.
A ringing endorsement
The Works Department also clarified the quality-control wing did not find any faults in the construction so far. it flies in the face of suspended officer finding the quality of concrete in deck slab and girder unsatisfactory. Sreedhanya Constructions bagged the contract for building the overbridge.