Appoint military engineers to study city roads, drains’ evaluation, moots TN information commission

While imposing penalty against a public information officer of the Greater Chennai Corporation, the State Information Commission has recommended that the civic body conduct a city-wide assessment of roads, stormwater drains, and rainwater harvesting structures by appointing retired Defence personnel.

In his order, S Muthuraj, the State Information Commissioner, while disposing of an appeal filed by resident V Murugesh, recommended appointing retired personnel who worked in military engineering service, to conduct the city-wide surveys. “Based on the findings, if the roads and stormwater drains are found to be poorly constructed, measures should be taken to reconstruct the same using the same contractors who failed to ensure quality work. This will set an example,” he said.

In a move to make erring contractors accountable, Muthuraj also recommended paying the Defence personnel from the salaries of civic officials concerned, who certified the works. Disciplinary action should be taken against the officials. The State Information Commission made the recommendations under Section 25 (5) of the RTI Act. Murugesh had filed an RTI application with Adyar zone, in December 2018, seeking details of action taken to lay the Kesavaperumal Main Road off Greenways Road. However, the civic body failed to provide details to his satisfaction.

“The RTI application was filed in December 2018 and the first and second appeals were made in February and March 2019 respectively.

The applicant filed a complaint in March 2021. The office of Adyar zone should pay Rs 1,000 per month for 27 months as compensation to the applicant and the Chennai Corporation can take action to collect the amount from the officials responsible,” the order said.