GADAG: Six assistant engineers of the Public Works Department in Ron taluk of Gadag district have gone on leave at a time for a month to avoid ‘harassment’ by their higher-up. But, their senior, Assistant Executive Engineer K A Hadli, claimed that engineers have requested for leave to stave off “heavy workload”.
The engineers, who submitted letters for a month-long earned leave from June 29 to July 26, are P H Kotabal, R D Yeligar, L A Byali, M B Mudibasangoudar, Gurunath and D L Shastri. Though they claim that harassment by Hadli was the reason for them taking leave, they have cited personal reasons for the leave in letters submitted to the leave sanctioning authority.
These engineers allege that they are being harassed to collect bribe and are not allowed to work freely. Seeing many vacant chairs, people who visit the office, ask other officials about it. But they remain silent.
But, AEE K A Hadli has flatly denied the allegations and said: “Engineers have applied for leave to save themselves from the workload.
I know two of them are on leave, but do not know about mass leave. While one of them cited marriage as the reason, the other gave personal reasons. But others have not taken proper permission. The department has tried to contact them, but could not reach.”