Chennai: Erring road contractor threatens woman engineer

Chennai: A contractor is in trouble for allegedly abusing a woman engineer of the Tiruvallur district administration who had ‘dared’ to pull him up for shoddy job in laying a government-contracted road in Villivakkam about 20 km from here.

The state union of rural development engineers on Saturday sent a complaint to Tiruvallur district collector E. Sundaravalli urging for “appropriate action” against the contractor, P. Loganathan, who had allegedly abused a woman assistant executive engineer (name withheld upon request) when she “pointed out the quantity and quality shortcomings/ deficiencies in the work and asked him to rectify the same”.

The union told the collector that the contractor had “asserted that he could transfer her to any place by using his political influence”. The incident on Friday had taken place in front of several local people, said the union, adding, “This incident is a clear indicator of unsafe working environment to the officials who perform their duty sincerely and honestly”.  It wanted the contractor to be blacklisted at once.

What the union did not say in its letter to the collector is that the contractor had allegedly told the woman engineer that she had no right to question his work as he had got the contract only after paying ‘commission’ to the local minister (P. Benjamin).

“The concerned engineer has recorded that traumatic onslaught”, said a source.
When contacted for his version, contractor Loganathan alleged that the woman engineer had demanded ‘commission’ and he refused to pay. When told that there were witnesses to his abusing her, he shot back, “Let them speak in front of me”.

Minister Benjamin, known for his calm demeanor, was furious when this correspondent called him for his reaction to the unsavoury incident.
“I have been receiving complaints about this contractor. I will take action”, he said.

Collector Sundaravalli has promised action in this matter. “I have forwarded the complaint from the engineer’s association to the project officer and the executive engineer for immediate enquiry. I will take action after getting their report”, she told DC.