Engr murder: NHAI likely to act against private firm

New Delhi: Shocked by the murder of an authority engineer in Jaipur, NHAI is likely to take action against the highway construction company whose managing director has been arrested for this crime. Sources said options are being explored to send a message to the entire construction sector which has been shaken after the first such case.

“There is a need to set an example for everyone in this sector and instil faith in every stakeholder. We will take legal opinion on what actions can be taken against the accused highway builder. Authority engineers are our representatives and it’s our responsibility to protect them,” said an official.

NHAI’s authority engineer R K Chawla was shot dead outside the authority office in Jaipur. Rajasthan Police have arrested four persons including the managing director of E5 Infrastructure Pvt Ltd who had allegedly hired sharp shooters to the kill Chawla. The deceased was employed with URS Scott Wilson, which has been acquired by Aecom.

NHAI and other wings of the highways ministry appoint authority engineers to supervise government-funded projects and they are paid by the government authority.

The official added that providing security to all authority engineers is not practical. “We never had such an incident in NHAI’s history. The contractors have several avenues in NHAI to address their concerns, if there is any disagreement between them and the authority engineers and problems do get resolved,” said a senior official in the highways authority.