Chennai: The state highways department has dissolved its exclusive Chennai Metro wing and transferred its officials to districts after a review found that the wing was no longer required and that several projects executed by it had quality issues and alleged irregularities.Chief engineers, divisional engineers and assistant divisional engineers attached to the wing have been shifted. The department has also not floated any tender in the past two months as it continues to review older works and restructure its administration before taking up fresh projects.Among the projects reviewed was the Koyambedu flyover. Officials found that it had failed to ease congestion, with vehicles continuing to choke one half of the flyover. The review also flagged design and structural flaws, besides poor road quality that led to its early damage.Officials also found the land acquisition cost for the ₹1,099 crore ECR expansion project imprudent. Several other projects, including grade separators at Medavakkam and Moolakadai and the Tambaram Eastern Bypass, were also reviewed.“As a policy, the government has decided not to have an exclusive highways wing for the city,” an official said. “There are enough hands in the construction and maintenance wing. A separate department only overlapped with the existing setup and created additional postings. At least half a dozen officials had little or no work. The wing also did not justify its existence in terms of quality or output.”The department has also scrapped the Projects and Rural Roads wing and the NABARD wing. Chief engineers from these wings, along with those from the Metro wing, have been transferred to Trichy, Madurai and Coimbatore. Going forward, all projects will be executed by a single Construction and Maintenance wing.Highways minister Aadhav Arjuna had told officials at a recent review meeting that all past works, ongoing projects, live tenders and proposed works were being examined. “There has been a pre-fixed commission system within highways. All old projects will be reviewed, and explanations will be sought from contractors and officials wherever irregularities are found,” he said.
