Assam has suspended 10 Public Works Department engineers over alleged negligence, construction irregularities and inadequate supervision of infrastructure projects in Barak Valley and Haflong, according to departmental sources cited by the Times of India. The action includes officials associated with the collapse of the Harang bridge and alleged lapses in maintaining prescribed construction standards.
Nine of the suspended engineers are from Barak Valley and one is from Haflong. Their ranks range from a superintending engineer to junior engineers, indicating that the departmental action covers multiple levels of the project supervision chain rather than a single field position.
Kallol Nath, executive engineer, and Jaydeep Nath, junior engineer, of the Katigorah-Borkhola territorial division of PWD (Roads), are among those suspended in connection with the Harang bridge collapse. The report does not provide details of the collapse, including its date, structural cause, extent of damage or whether anyone was injured.
The department has also suspended Pijush Choudhury and Ratul Das, assistant executive engineers in the Dholai-Sonai division. Shaibal Biswas, executive engineer, and Subrata Das, assistant executive engineer, of the Patharkandi-Ramakrishnanagar division are also facing the action.
From Hailakandi, the officials named in the disciplinary proceedings are executive engineer Subhendu Das, assistant executive engineer Babu Barbhuiya and junior engineer Amir Hussain. The 10th official, Shakil Ahmed, is a superintending engineer of the PWD’s North Eastern Council division in Haflong. The allegations against Ahmed relate to his earlier posting as executive engineer of the Dholai-Sonai division.
According to the departmental sources cited in the report, the allegations include inadequate monitoring, failure to maintain prescribed quality standards and poor supervision. The scrutiny also covers engineers linked to bridge collapses, substandard construction and maintenance lapses. These allegations have led to suspension and disciplinary action, but the supplied report does not state the findings of any final departmental inquiry or indicate whether responsibility has been conclusively established against any of the officials.
The action places the focus on how Assam’s public works projects are monitored across the chain from field-level execution to division-level and superintending oversight. Bridge construction and maintenance require coordination between contractors, engineers and departmental supervisors, but the report does not provide the relevant contracts, inspection records, technical assessments or details of the agencies responsible for the projects.
The department’s next steps, including the scope and timeline of the disciplinary proceedings and any technical investigation into the Harang bridge collapse, were not specified in the supplied report. The outcome of those proceedings will determine whether the allegations result in further administrative action.
