Engineers of Jharkhand claim to suffer from political pressure, especially from those by who are on top posts in the Government. The aggrieved engineers even went ahead and blamed Chief Minister Hemant Soren directly for turning a blind eye on the projects related to the water resources, water supply and road construction.
The problems, which according to them have been raised before the Government several times, were discussed in details during a technical seminar on “Necessity or Helplessness of Engineering Cadre in Jharkhand” organised by Jharkhand Engineering Services Association (JESA) on Sunday.Explaining the impact of such hurdles, JESA organisation secretary, Ashok Kumar Singh who is also an engineer in the Road Construction Department said that since the inception of the State 14 years back most of the Government engineers are deprived from timely promotion.“It is our State’s misfortune that many engineers retired without getting the deserving position,” he added.
Also, Singh and Indian Engineers Federation (INDEF) former chairman Shishir K Mukherjee mentioned on the large number of vacancies in engineering institutes of the State due to Government’s negligence. Singh maintained, “Presently, there are no regularised superintendent engineer or chief engineer in State Road Construction Department. The ones working on behalf of them are kept on the ad hoc basis. No recruitments have been done in past 14 years. In such situations, state government is imposing unjustified steps.”
Feeling the need of taking a “serious action” from the JESA’s side towards the government, another INDEF Former Chairman M Nagaraj, the chief guest of this seminar said, “It is time to agitate against the Government for our rights as the latter has not considered our woes through letters.”As many as 2,500 engineers from various departments of the state participated here. Besides the above problems, the State Government is yet to begin the much-awaited payment structure for these state engineers resembling pay commission sanctioned for civil service servants.
“We work in disaster management circumstances but the civil servants like IAS who cooperate us in such emergencies get the scope to visit abroad. We are always kept aside in availing these facilities,” pointed Mukherjee.Supporting Mukherjee, Ashok Kumar Singh said, “Both Central and State Government should not differentiate between engineers and bureaucrats because together we all contribute towards the development of our nation.”
Most of the engineers agreed to the views of the speakers here including Mukherjee, Nagaraj and some editors of regional newspapers. “There are moments, when the State Government officials and Ministers compel engineers to do unauthorised construction works and if these engineers deny following the instructions, they are either transferred or blamed in some faulty cases,” the speakers highlighted.