Madhya Pradesh engineer suspended over remarks on accepting voluntary money
Executive engineer C B Ahirwar was suspended after a video of him discussing accepting money offered willingly went viral.
The Madhya Pradesh government has suspended C B Ahirwar, an executive engineer in the Water Resources Department's Panna division, with immediate effect. According to The Indian Express, the department issued the suspension order on October 30 after remarks made by Ahirwar went viral on social media.
The suspension follows a Lokayukta operation on October 28, where two department employees, divisional accounts officer Deepak Singh Parmar and assistant grade-II employee Arvind Kumar Pathak, were allegedly caught accepting a bribe of Rs 45,000. The employees were allegedly caught after contractor Gaurav Tomar approached the Lokayukta police regarding demands for approving his fourth bill.
While Ahirwar was not among those caught in the operation, he told the media that he had no fixed percentage for contractors and would be happy if someone gave money willingly. He acknowledged that accepting such money is a crime but maintained that he does not demand it from anyone.
The Water Resources Department in Bhopal stated that Ahirwar's conduct was unbecoming of a government servant and violated state service rules. He has been suspended under Rule 9(1)(a) of the Madhya Pradesh Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1966.
During his suspension, Ahirwar will be stationed at the office of the Chief Engineer in Bhopal and will be entitled to a subsistence allowance.