BHUBANESWAR: Diploma Engineers’ Service Association today cautioned the Government that any discrimination against junior engineers during restructuring of engineering cadre would not be tolerated.
It has come to the notice of the association that the Government has decided to upgrade the entry-level post of degree engineers from class-II to junior class-I. However, the Government has not taken any decision about the fate of the diploma engineers, president of the association Nirmal Chandra Swain said in a press statement.
There will be great disparity between the degree and the diploma engineers if the base level post for the latter is not upgraded, he said.
As such the diploma engineers are neglected in the matter of promotion for decades while degree engineers are given six promotions during their service period, he said.
A diploma engineer gets maximum one promotion to the post of assistant engineer. Many junior engineers retired in the same position, he added. The junior engineers are the backbone of the engineering cadre and execute all the programmes of the Government at field level. Denying due promotion to them is a great injustice, he remarked.
There are about 7,000 diploma engineers working in different Government departments and they have been suffering due to lack of sympathy of the Government. If the Government continues to neglect them, the association will be forced to go for agitation, he cautioned.
General secretary of the association Narendra Kumar Nayak said an emergency meeting of the association has been convened on August 1 to decide the future course of action.