JKEEGA seeks filling up of vacant positions across all levels, regularisation

Jammu, July 26: The Jammu and Kashmir Electrical Engineering Graduates Association (JKEEGA) Friday urged the J&K administration to fill up vacant positions across all levels besides resolving its long-pending issues of regularisation and assured career progression or time bound promotion in the gazetted cadre.

JKEEGA General Secretary Sachin Tickoo, while addressing a press conference here at Press Club Jammu, stated that scores of posts at all levels from Junior Engineer to Executive Director level were lying vacant.

“Further for more than six months, no engineer in PDD has been promoted at any level. As far as vacancy position is concerned, there are four vacancies of Executive Directors; ten vacancies of Chief Engineers; thirteen vacancies of Superintending Engineers; sixty-four vacancies of Executive Engineers and 104 vacancies of Assistant Executive Engineers,” he said.

“JKEEGA appeals that the establishment committee meeting may be convened urgently to fill the vacant positions of Chief Engineer which have accrued since March, 2023. Only 5 Chief Engineers are managing the workload and responsibilities of not only 15 Chief Engineers but also Executive Directors (EDs) and Managing Directors (MDs),” Tickoo said.

He pointed out that the Assistant Engineers, who had been promoted in Jan 2024, were yet to be posted against the higher posts and they continued to await their postings.

“The corporations of JPDCL, KPDCL, JKPTL, JKPCL have referred around 292 posts of Junior Engineers to the Service Selection Board vide their letter Nos 729-30 dated July 15, 2024 and 763-64 dated July 16, 2024,” Tickoo said.

Executive Council members including vice presidents Gulshan Bhagat, Rajeshwar Jamwal, provincial secretaries Vishal Singh Chib, Ankush Sharma, Ankush Gupta; organising secretaries Rohit Gupta, Vijay Sharma, Rajeev Gupta and Vipul Sharma; secretaries Ravi Karloopia, Sumit Sharma, Illiyas Haroon accompanied him (Tickoo) during the press conference.

Tickoo stated that PDD engineers of J&K had been working tirelessly for achieving the targets set by government in respect of revenue realization and also ensuring speedy implementation of the centrally sponsored schemes like RDSS and works under the CAPEX resulting that Year on Year revenue realized increased by 17 percent in 2023-24 and power reliability increased considerably.

“While the government also has subsidised tariffs for consumers as per the tariff petition filed before the Commission and reported in sections of the media also. However, the engineers have been waiting for so many years that their human resource issues will be resolved, especially the regularization and assured career progression or time bound promotion in the gazetted cadre,” JKEEGA said.

Tickoo mentioned that the current lot of all the engineers including the Executive Director or Chief Engineer comprised only Assistant Engineer on substantive basis and none of the working engineers was above the grade of Assistant Engineer. Therefore all the impediments and hurdles needed to be cleared in order to regularize the services of the serving or retired engineers and adhere to the State Administrative Council decision dated- October 22, 2019 which had stipulated that the process of regularization be completed before November 2019, he demanded.

JKEEGA enjoined upon the Service Selection Board to expedite the recruitment of the Junior Engineers—Electric “in order to provide not only employment opportunity to the youth but also because their services were urgently required to undertake the mammoth 5600 Cr works earmarked under RDSS and other CSS.”

Association also urged the Additional Chief Secretary Shaleen Kabra and other members of the Sub –Committee formed by government for the Assured Career Progression scheme to recommend the government for issuance of SRO of Engineers for ACP which had been approved by the then state cabinet in 2018 vide cabinet decision no 109/6/12018 dated May 11, 2018 and well documented in the State Budget in year 2018.

“It is unfortunate that the assured career progression was extended to the Police and JKAS services on the basis of the same cabinet decision, but the same was withheld till date in favour of the engineers of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, whereas same is in place in other neighbouring states and also in CPWD,” Tickoo rued.

Further, he sought reinstatement of the engineers, who were suspended six months back on account of lesser billing and collection efficiency. JKEEGA members recalled the discussion held in the chamber of Chief Secretary in the presence of Principal Secretary PDD on March 15, 2024, regarding reviewing the suspension on merits in an expeditious manner.

“However till date despite the lapse of considerable time, none of them has been reinstated causing deep mental agony to them,” they lamented.

They also demanded re-bundling of PDD Corporations.

“Since budget discussion is underway in Parliament, the corporations of PDD should be re-bundled as this experiment of creating water-tight cannons of different unbundled corporations in PDD has not produced any useful change for the consumers nor the 21000 strong work force of employees. The employees on deputation to these unbundled corporations have been suffering on account of shortfalls in Grant in Aid for salaries and other allowances like leave salary, and children allowance, thereby deteriorating their service conditions, which were a violation of Sec 133 Electricity Act 2003. The salaries and employee expenses should be delinked from the Grant in Aid mechanism,” they demanded.

The members appealed to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary, PDD to resolve the issues of the engineering fraternity of Power Development Department and engineers in general at an earliest so that a renewed zeal was infused among the fraternity which was reeling under stress due to non redressal.