Pappu Singh, another Dheng villager, said they were relieved that contractor Kishore Singh’s company was blacklisted. He said one good rainy season would wash off roads made by him.

Kishore Singh, however, had completed work on Riga-Parsauni and Sasaula-Apta Road on time, but he was rushing through his third (Sitamarhi-Riga-Dheng) project.

Executive engineer Pandey had been monitoring 25 road projects including 13 major projects worth Rs 200 cr (about 400 km). He had got work completed on 12 projects in time.

Incidentally, Rajendra Singh and Brothers, awarded three projects worth Rs 22 crore, also failed to meet the deadline. The company also feared it would be blacklisted by Pandey and contractor Tunna Singh is also under the CBI scanner.

A colleague of the deceased engineer said, “Pandey was a hard taskmaster. Contractors could not coax him into making advance payment. His principle was simple — inspect a road and make or stop payment”.