The Odisha Geological Service Association (OGSA) held its Silver Jubilee and annual general body meeting here on October 31 and November 1. Members and former members from all over the State attended the function.
Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Kumar Mallik inaugurated the meeting and graced the occasion as chief guest. The Minister inaugurated ‘OGSA Newsletter’, a technical bulletin of the association edited by geologist Dharmendra Sharma. Steel and Mines Department Principal Secretary RK Sharma and Director of Geology Artatrana Dash attended the function as distinguished guests. Vice president of OGSA Bikash Kumar Sahoo delivered the welcome speech.
Addressing a full house, association general secretary Dr Prabal Kumar Chand expressed concern over several problems faced by the members. The service cadre has not been restructured during the past 37 years, as a result of which, the officers of the Directorate of Geology are getting their first promotion after more than 27 years of joining service. While entry level posts of many services of the State Government have already been upgraded to Class I, the Geologists, Petrologists and Geophysicists of the Directorate with a qualifying degree of Post Graduation have been deprived of this till now. As a result of which many officers have resigned and joined other services. Recently, four officers of the Directorate left job and joined Odisha Mining Corporation under the same Department due to a much higher entry level scale of pay, he lamented.