With a resolve to give a clean administration, the Yogi Adityanath government is contemplating action against around 250 engineers of the Public Works Department (PWD) to send out a loud and clear message that the present dispensation was committed to rooting out corruption.
A highly placed source said the government had reportedly prepared a list of around 250 engineers who could be given voluntary retirement in the coming days.
“The list has been sent to the Chief Minister for final approval. Once we get the green signal, necessary action will be taken that could be a golden handshake as per government rules or the service could be terminated, depending on the gravity of charges they are facing,” the official said.
He said initially a list of 392 officers was prepared and after first screening, the list was pruned to about 250.
The said list has been sent to Chief Secretary Anup Chandra Pandey for recommendation. He will send it to the Chief Minister for final clearance.
Among engineers who are likely to be given voluntary retirement, three are of executive engineer rank, 78 of assistant engineer rank and 116 of junior engineer rank. There are at least 50 more engineers who are also in the list of officials to be given VRS.
The government had dropped the hint that it might go for the kill last month when Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who heads PWD, had said that a secret process was on to identify corrupt officers.