Jal Shakti Deptt regularises 1969 engineers

Jammu, Oct 7: The Jal Shakti Department has issued regularisation orders for 396 engineers in various ranks with another 411 in the pipeline pending essential clearances.

Many of those who benefited from the resultant pay fixation are retired officers who had been drawing pensions in lower ranks, an official statement issued here said.

Since September 2022, 1969 engineers have been regularised, promoted, and recommended, from the rank of Junior Engineer to Superintendent Engineer.

Officers had been working in the incharge capacity or on an adhoc basis for years without substantive promotions.

In many cases, the regularisation has taken place after more than 22 years of adhoc placement.

The proactive and transparent processes steered by the Public Service Commission (PSC) have enabled the department to address these long- pending issues.

The recommendations of the Departmental Promotion Committee in the PSC have resulted in orders of promotion of 70 Executive Engineers to Superintending Engineers, 129 Assistant Executive Engineers to Executive Engineers, 415 Assistant Engineers to the role of Assistant Executive Engineers, and 665 Junior Engineers to Assistant Engineers while another 690 officers have been cleared subject to essential clearances which are in process.

Also, in another first, since September 2022, the department has strived to man all the posts in the department with competent officers by timely posting and placement of 19 Incharge Chief Engineers, 28 Incharge Superintending Engineers, and 56 Incharge Executive Engineers.

Further, the department has made concerted efforts to issue seniority lists at various ranks to bring transparency and stability while assuring career progression-free of favouritism.

The final seniority lists have been issued in respect of Superintending Engineers [GO No 10-JK(JSD) of 2023 dated January 25, 2023], Assistant Engineers (Degree Holders) [GO No 233-JK(JSD) of 2023 dated September 27, 2023] and Assistant Engineers (Diploma Holders) [GO No 234-JK(JSD) of 2023 dated September 27, 2023] while tentative seniority list have been issued in respect of Assistant Executive Engineers (Degree Holders) [Circular No 08-JK(JSD) of 2023 dated October 6, 2023], Executive Engineers (Degree Holders) [Circular No 09-JK(JSD) of 2023 dated October 6, 2023] and Assistant Executive Engineers (Diploma Holders) [Circular No 10-JK(JSD) of 2023 dated October 6, 2023].

The statement said that these measures have enabled the department to rise to the challenges of execution of the Jal Jeevan Mission, a flagship scheme of the Government of India that envisages providing safe and adequate drinking water at 55 LPCD of BIS 10500 quality to every rural household, numbering 18.67 lakh in J&K.