160 engineers from soil and water conservation dept await promotion, threaten agitation

 

The process for giving promotions started during November 2021 and the departmental promotion committee identified 160 eligible engineers for the post of deputy regional water conservation officer.

Around 160 engineers from soil and water conservation department under zilla parishad (ZP) in Maharashtra are awaiting promotions as per eligibility for the past one year. The Zilla Parishad Engineers’ Association while threatening to stage protest has alleged government apathy causing delay for promotion even as many employees will soon be retiring while the government is planning to re-launch its pet scheme “Jal-Yukta Shivar”.

The process for giving promotions started during November 2021 and the departmental promotion committee identified 160 eligible engineers for the post of deputy regional water conservation officer.

“While the committee made formal recommendation for promotion in August 2022, there has been no action for the past two months. Some employees are being handed out orders on the last day of their retirement which may not mean anything,” the Zilla Parishad Engineers’ Association said through a release.

The soil and water conservation department is headed by chief minister Eknath Shinde.

The association has threatened to launch agitation if the government does not issue orders for promotion of all the 160 employees saying these appointments needed to be done on urgent basis given that the state government has launched the second phase of “Jal-Yukta Shivar” (water conservation scheme).

“We will be forced to stage agitation if the government does not take cognisance of our demands and act accordingly,” said Ganesh Shingane, general secretary, Zilla Parishad Engineers’ Association.

Despite repeated attempts, Bhushan Gagrani, additional chief secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) could not be contacted.

“Jal-Yukta Shivar” has been a pet scheme of deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis who in October said the scheme will soon be restarted to conserve water and increase water table.