Date:04/02/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/04/stories/2008020451960300.htm

Other States - Orissa

Diploma engineers on the warpath

Special Correspondent

Accuse government of denying them promotions and other benefits

Some 9,000 junior engineers working in various departments
Meetings at district level planned

BHUBANESWAR: Thousands of diploma engineers, working in various departments of the State government, on Sunday threatened to go on mass leave to highlight their demands.

At a press conference here, the office-bearers of Orissa Diploma Engineers Service Association said that the government had been denying them promotion and other benefits such as better scale of pay and non-extension of regular service benefits to junior engineers posted on contractual basis.

There were around 7,000 junior engineers on regular jobs with the government, while another 2,000 were working on contractual basis.

Main demands

The demands include promotion of junior engineers after completion of 15 years of service, implementation exact Central pay scale and formation of cadre of junior engineers posted in the Panchayati Raj Department under different schemes.

General secretary of the association, Narendra Kumar Nayak, said that they had discussed their demands with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on two occasions in the past -- February 13, 2002 and February 26, 2004.

The government, however, was sitting over their demands under one pretext or the other till date, Mr. Jena said.

Giving details of the agitational programme the association would take up in the coming days, Mr. Jena said the junior engineers would first hold meetings at the district level and participate in a mass convention in Bhubaneswar on February 19 and 20. If the authorities did not pay any heed to their demands, the junior engineers would go on mass leave for 33 days from March 1 to April 2, Mr. Jena said.