Muzaffarpur, March 21: A three-member team of the Union rural development ministry led by director Y.S. Dwivedi inspected roads being constructed under the Prime Minister’s Rural Road Scheme.

The team visited Muzaffarpur on Friday and Saturday for on-the-spot inspection in Sakra and Kudhani blocks.

The team detected anomalies and reprimanded the officials. They also took strong exception to the disappearance of the executive engineer of Rural Engineering Organisation (Reo), Surendra Prasad Sinha, on February 26 and his subsequent re-surfacing.

The team interrogated Sinha and other engineers of Reo for financial indiscipline. Sinha expressed helplessness in carrying out construction because of constant threat from contractors.

Sinha’s wife had lodged an FIR at Kazimohammadpur police station on February 27 against several contractors on the ground of harassing Sinha. The police quizzed Sinha, who disclosed names of the contractors who wanted to sign the bills without completing the formalities of on-the-spot inspection.

The station house officer of Kazimohammadpur police station, Baleshwar Prasad, said the engineer re-surfaced on March 1 and an investigation was on to tighten the noose around those who threatened the engineer with dire consequences.

The central team held a high-level review meeting with the divisional commissioner (Tirhut), S.M. Raju, district magistrate Santosh Kumar Mall and the senior superintendent of police, Rajesh Kumar on Saturday and expressed displeasure over the dilly-dallying attitude in providing security to the engineers.

Talking to The Telegraph, Dwivedi said the team detected financial indiscipline during inspection and reprimanded the engineers of Rural Engineering Organisation.

Dwivedi also urged the administration and police for their support to the field engineers in carrying out the construction work. The chairman of the Engineers Co-ordination Committee (Tirhut range), Ram Suwarath Sah, said he has furnished a detailed memorandum to the inspecting team and demanded security of the engineers.

The general manager of National Hydraulic Power Corporation R.D.P. Kapri and the former director of the road department, Ravindra Pal, accompanied Dwivedi on the inspection.