9000 work charged employees in PWD on the bench
KOHIMA, NOVEMBER 8 : Nagaland has potential in tourism and small-scale industry except for the fact that the State suffers from poor infrastructure–or the lack of infrastructure–which remain roadblocks in the path of growth and development.
The statement came from not tourism officials but, interestingly, from an official of the State’s main surface connectivity-developing department, the Public Works department (National Highway).
On Tuesday, a high official of said department admitted that out of more than 11,000 kilometres of roads in Nagaland, barely 100-200 kilometres were pliable.
Speaking at the annual general conference of the Association of Engineers of Nagaland, PWD (AOE-NPWD), in Kohima town on Tuesday, PWD chief engineer R Temsutemjen said the State had ‘huge potentials’ in many areas such as tourism and small-scale industries.
However, he said, the poor infrastructure in the State are a drawback when it comes to expanding and banking in said sectors. He pointed out that besides the roads, the State’s buildings are also in a shambles.
“They (roads and buildings) are not worthy for travel and habitation,” the chief engineer remarked.
“We blame the government for poor planning, lack of funds etc. but as engineers, we also share a part of the blame for the state of affairs we are in today,” he told the gathering.
Stating that there were more than 18,000 employees including 9,000 work charged employees in the state PWD’s various wings, Temsutemjen asked the members to reflect about how they are managing the workforce. They need to evaluate their output, he said.
“We need to take a long hard look at ourselves,” he asserted. It is time for the members of the association to think of how they can become tools of change, he added.
Chief engineer of PWD (Roads & Bridges) K Rhetso delivered a short speech at the conference. He avoided talking about the perpetually deplorable roads of the State and instead called for the association’s members to ‘work as sincere government servants.’
The official also said during the past 2-3 years, funds in the department – except for a few centrally sponsored projects – had been ‘too meagre for engineers to work and demonstrate their efficiency.’ He hoped that the association would work to ‘convince the powers that be that more funds are needed for the workforce to execute various projects so that the public would know they are capable.’
The association’s president, Kahuto Sumi, said in his address that technocrats have to work hard to catch up with latest technologies to bring about changes. He encouraged the members to ponder over their contribution in achieving said goal notwithstanding the problems they face. This is one of the main reasons why the public and the media “are quick to point fingers at us” in every problem faced by the department, he said.
Sumi also reminded the members that they were service providers. They need to understand their duties and responsibilities and deliver to the public, he said. He reminded that technocrats were responsible for asset-creation through infrastructural development.
“It is our responsibility and duty to maintain the best quality of what we have created,” he added.
Nagaland government has been creating divisions in the State PWD without sanctioning or creating posts. There are currently 82 working divisions with only 39 sanctioned posts and 40 temporary posts.
This was stated by engineer-in-chief of the NPWD Khupi Natso on Tuesday during the annual conference of the AOE-NPWD at the PWD Complex in Kohima.
Mincing no words, the official said that the Nagaland government was “mindlessly appointing unrecognized posts”, and eventually creating a “mess” in the department. People are just “chasing posts” and not working, which is why rationalization of manpower in the department has become the need of the hour, Natso lamented.
Nonetheless, the official expressed hope that once the draft policy for rationalization and the draft of Subordinate Engineers Rule are approved, such “kind of madness appointments” will be normalized.
Also, the official lamented that although there was ‘thousands of skilled workforce’ such as carpenters, masons etc., there were no funds to purchase materials for them to work let alone funds for maintenance.
“And the engineers get blamed for this,” he said. He also expressed disapproval for “current charges” where junior officers are allowed to hold higher posts for extended periods of time with full financial powers. He has denounced the “current charge business” and has called upon the gathering to ‘take a pledge not to indulge in the trend.’
The department head did not stop there. He also pointed to the removal of the powers of the engineer-in-chief by the government on grounds of mismanagement of power and excess appointments by some departmental heads. He said that instead of taking action against the erring officers, the powers of the HoDs were ‘seized.’
Consequently, things have become “muddier”, he said, adding that now the ‘engineer-in-chief’ was merely a glorified title. Natso has asked the association to ‘pursue restoration’ of the powers of the engineer-in-chief.
