Vasai landslide: Two civic officials transferred

The landslide in Vasai on July 13 claimed two lives. Pics/Hanif Patel

A week after mid-day in an investigative report pointed out how chawl-builder mafia were undeterred despite a landslide on July 13 which claimed two lives, two officials from the Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation were transferred on Wednesday. While the civic body claimed it was routine transfer, activists said it was mere hogwash. The two officials who were transferred are Assistant Municipal Commissioner Neelam Nijai and Junior Engineer Kaustubh Tamore.

Asst Municipal Commissioner Neelam Nijai has not been assigned to any department yet

Nijai, who was replaced by Medha Vartak, has not been assigned a new department yet, while Tamore, who was in charge of keeping a check on unauthorised constructions in the area, has been shifted to the C ward garden department. On Friday, the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission had summoned six civic and forest officials following mid-day's July 19 report on the chawl mafia.

The transfers

Additional VVCMC Commissioner Ajinkya Bagade said, "Transfer is a regular administrative procedure." When asked why Nijai has not been given a new post, he said, "We will see where she (Nijai) can be posted."

Junior Engineer Kaustubh Tamore has been transferred to the C ward gardens department

Nijai is also the complainant in both the cases filed in connection with the July 13 landslide. Unit 2 of Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar police's Crime Branch, which is probing one of the two cases, said the documents furnished by Nijai were not complete. An officer said, "She appeared before us once, but her panchnama required some corrections, so we sent her back and asked to appear with proper documents. We cannot afford to have any discrepancies in the documents."

BJP leader from Vasai Manoj Barot said, "Nijai is a tainted civic officer who has been booked by Virar police in the past for constructing building complexes using fake commencement certificates. Subsequently, she was suspended from the post of AMC in 2015. There should be an investigation into who reinstated her and on what ground."

The Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation office

‘Engineer not qualified'

Jayendra Patil, president of MNS in Palghar district, alleged that Tamore is not a qualified engineer and added, "Yet VVCMC officials gave him a coveted post for the reason best known to them."

"Tamore is a very influential man in VVCMC. He pretends like he's the municipal commissioner," Patil said and went on to allege, "He has recently purchased a high-end car in the name of his father. The agencies concerned must probe into his disproportionate assets."

The transfers came two weeks after a landslide led to two deaths in Vasai. Pics/Hanif Patel

Speaking on the transfers, he said, "The transfer is a mere hogwash. They will soon be brought back to the same post after the situation normalises. The least VVCMC should do is suspend them."

"They should be booked under the murder charge as these two municipal officers allowed chawl-builder mafias to carry out unauthorised constructions on government as well as private lands. Why have they been kept off the legal hook?" he added.