Agri engineers rally for jobs
The students of College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology (CAET) under the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) took out a rally on Friday demanding restructuring of the agricultural engineering service cadre and creation of additional posts in the government offices for agricultural engineers.
The students of CAET have been protesting against the lack of adequate job opportunities for quite sometime. The students have pointed out in a memorandum that the recruitment of the agriculture engineers to government offices has been stopped since 1995.
Since then, the students, passing out of the college, have been facing immense difficulty in getting either government or private jobs.
The students have also demanded the restructuring of the agriculture service cadre and enhancement of posts like it is done for other engineering streams.
Even though the entry level posts for engineers of other streams has been upgraded to be on a par with the high ranking officials, nothing has been done for agriculture engineers despite several assurances by the State Government in the past.
“Our only purpose is to get better employment opportunities. We have been protesting the treatment meted out to the agriculture engineers for quite sometime, but nothing is being done for us,” CAET student Santosh Kumar Biswal said. The students are also demanding creation of additional posts in various government departments where there is a need for agriculture engineers, but they are not being hired.
They have requested that posts be created in Directorate of Agriculture and Food Production, Directorate of Horticulture, Directorate of Soil Conservation/Watershed Mission, Directorate of Ground Water Survey and Investigation, OMFED, Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA) and a few other departments.
They have submitted the memorandum to the Governor and the Chief Minister’s Office.