BMC employees protest transfer of asst engineer

MUMBAI: Tension prevailed outside the BMC’s H West ward office on Monday morning as around 150 engineers, staff and members of the Municipal Engineers’ Association (MEA) protested in support of Sachin Hanamdar, an assistant engineer (AE) in charge of maintenance. Hanamdar is on a collision course with the ward’s assistant municipal commissioner (AMC) Vinayak Vispute.

Explaining the issue, Hanamdar said he was relieved of his post on December 3 despite there being a previous order dated February 2024 from the municipal commissioner staying his transfer. “The deputy municipal commissioner (DMC) of Zone 3 on December 9 wrote to Vispute, pointing this out so that I can finish ongoing works in the ward,” he said. “Yet, I have been locked out of my office since December 26.”

Hanamdar forwarded the DMC’s letter to Vispute’s office on December 10. “The DMC is in a higher post than the AMC so his order should have been followed,” he said, adding that instead, the next day, he received a transfer order from Vispute saying that retention of his position within H West ward was not possible without approval from “the competent authorities”. HT has a copy of both Vispute’s as well as the DMC’s letters.

On January 3, the MEA wrote to municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani and the Khar police station, condemning Hanamdar’s transfer, the locking of his cabin and the withholding of his December salary. “The matter should be thoroughly investigated, and Vispute should be suspended,” wrote Ramesh Deshmukh, MEA president.

HT in September had reported that the Mumbai Developers Forum had complained to Gagrani about Vispute, alleging that he demanded bribes and delayed development proposals unnecessarily “for unreasonably long periods”. As a result, he was removed from his additional charge in the BMC’s estate department.

HT is also in possession of a complaint by a former corporator dated December 23, 2024 to Gagrani, CM Devendra Fadnavis and others, blaming Vispute for the illegal construction of a G+3 building in a plot cleared for a dry waste collection centre in Khar Danda. Hanamdar, who was instrumental in getting a road for the movement of vehicles to the 3,070-sq m plot, had alerted the AMC and other officials about the encroachment. The letter claims that he was transferred as punishment for this.

After the protest, Hanamdar wrote to the security officer about the locking of his office without prior notice. The responsibility for lost documents and supplies, he wrote, would lie with the security apparatus.

Vispute denied the allegations. “There are no stay orders on Hanamdar being relieved from his post, which was done as per the rules,” he said. “Instead of accepting the order, he continued to come to office, which is indiscipline. The DMC has also accepted this. The officer is hiding facts and misleading everyone, taking advantage of the union. If the union had reached out to me, I would have presented the facts.”

DMC Zone 3 Vishwas Mote said he would look into the matter. Bhushan Gagrani did not respond to questions.