Bhubaneswar: Assistant Engineers (Civil) of Minor Irrigation (MI) cadre in Odisha have sought the intervention of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for convening of Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) meeting to ensure their elevation to the higher rank.
In a letter to the Chief Minister, they said 53 vacancies now exist in the rank of Assistant Executive Engineer (Civil) which are meant for promotion from amongst the eligible diploma holder Assistant Engineers (Civil).
However, no DPC meeting has been held since 2010 for which the eligible senior most Assistant Engineers (Civil) are suffering both mentally and socially despite their eligibility, the said.
The Assistant Engineers stated that in a plea of Supreme Court case there was no initiation for promotion till September, 2022 though actually there was no direct case on them.
Now, the Orissa High Court in its order on May 19, 2023, clarified in the event any DPC is convened, such DPC is free to consider the case of the persons named against Sl No.1 to 65 and 70-75 of the final gradation list, the letter said.
At present there is no litigation or hindrance in holding DPC for promotion to the rank of Assistant Executive Engineer (Civil) from amongst the eligible Assistant Engineers of M.I. cadre, it said.
“We have worked for more than 25 years and still in the present post and badly aspire for a promotion which is denied to us in spite of clear vacancies and in spite of our numerous representations to the government,” the Assistant Engineers said.
“Our beloved Chief Minister has rightly felt that if timely promotion is not given, it affects the employees and their work zeal is lost and they suffer from mental agony,” they said.
They further stated that the General Administration department vide No 29803 dated 20-10-2022 notified to all departments to convene DPC and complete the procedure by 2nd fortnight of December, 2022.
Stating that the government focused on timely promotion of employees to save them from harassment, they said it constituted ‘PROMOTION ADALAT’ for redressal of grievances of government servants which has created a great hope and aspiration in the mind of eligible employees debarred from getting promotion.
The ‘Promotion Adalat’ on February 2, 2023 also directed the department of Water Resources to take expeditious steps for finalization of gradation list and hold DPC before any of the applicant retires possibly within one month, they said.
“But with deep sorrow it is to humbly state that inspite of all the above no promotion has been given to the Assistant Engineers (Civil) in Minor Irrigation cadre since 2007,” they claimed
Moreover, the DPC for promotion of Chief Engineers, Additional Chief Engineers, Superintending Engineers and Executive Engineers are going on smoothly, they said.
“But we, the base level workers are suffering … As a result, we are completely disheartened, heartbroken and lost our zeal to work. We are feeling hopeless and harassed,” they said, urging the Chief Minister to direct the department of Water Resources for convening DPC for promotion to the post of Assistant Executive Engineer (Civil) from amongst the eligible Assistant Engineers of M.I. Cadre as per promotion quota available for diploma engineers.
