Northeast: Prioritise local-felt needs, engineers told

Our Correspondent
Kohima, July 22 (EMN): Nagaland Minister for Rural Development, Metsubo Jamir on Friday called upon engineers from the North Eastern Region (NER) to prioritise local-felt needs and ensure that central government projects meant for the region are translated into reality.

Addressing the Indian Engineers’ Federation (North Eastern Region) (INDEF-NER) mid-term cum annual council meeting organised by the Federation of Nagaland State Engineering Service Associations (FONSESA) in Kohima, the minister said the contribution of engineers from NER will decide the outcome of central projects in the region.

NER is a central point of development and progress, he said, adding that it has immense natural resources, accounting for around 34% of the country’s water resources and almost 40% of India’s hydropower potential.

However, the region lags behind in so many essential developmental activities. This is further compounded by the region’s topography and climate, which are impediments to progress, he said.

Against this backdrop, the minister urged INDEF (NER) members to ensure that the local-felt needs take priority over everything else and that their commitment will contribute towards making all the projects a reality.

He added government initiatives will definitely impact the region and engineers’ contribution will be the deciding factor in the success or failure of these initiatives.

‘India’s Act East Policy places the north-eastern states on the territorial frontier of India’s eastward progress. The announcement made by India’s Finance Minister for the execution of several rails, road, and air connectivity projects worth INR 1,34,200 crore in the northeast with the main objective to help bring the rest of India closer to the Northeast and vice-versa,’ the minister said, adding that 4,000 km of road, 20 railway projects for 2,011 km and 15 air connectivity projects have been proposed.

‘National waterways on the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Barak rivers (National Waterways) NW-1 on the Ganges, NW-2 on Brahmaputra and NW-16 on Barak are under development to provide better connectivity. As the cost of travel through water is the least when compared to air, road and rail networks, the riverine systems of India and Bangladesh can be leveraged for all types of transportation. Eastern Waterways Connectivity with Southeast Asian countries will also remain an area of focus for Transportation. It will connect the northeast with the rest of India by providing 5,000 km of navigable waterways,’ Metsubo said.

He also said that engineers are the genesis of all inventions and innovative developments that have propelled the world toward technological advances, which the present generation is benefiting.

He further called upon the engineers to protect the environment that has been rapidly degenerating due to the growing population and human beings’ quest for a better life and progress.

INDEF (NER) President, Pura Tupe told the gathering that the Northeast has a lot of potential for developmental activities, and so engineers need to be strengthened for development to take place in the region.

Stating that one cannot imagine developing towns and cities without engineers, Tupe requested the chief ministers of all the north-eastern states to meet for the sake of development in the region.

The federation also put forth the federation’s (national level) demands which include heading and manning of technical departments by technical personnel, removal of disparity in carrier values of engineers vis-à-vis administrative services, and constitution of Engineering Commission.

He expressed dissatisfaction over continuous erosion in the pay, status and career prospects of engineers in India since independence.

“The role of engineers and technocrats in nation-building has been recognised by many leaders of the nation. The bureaucracy should work as a facilitator of science and technological development and no way should be allowed to dominate over the professionals. But the most shocking part is that the engineering services all over the country are far lagging behind the civil services in respect of status, pay structure and career progression,” he said.

Tupe also said that the time has come to overcome the hurdle created due to the shackle of bureaucracy and to take some positive steps towards the formation of the Engineering Commission, in order to remove the disparity and inequality in respect of pay and status of engineers and technical officers.

He also informed that engineering colleges in the country produce more than 4.5 lakh of graduates every year. The figure indicates that there is sufficient technical manpower but that is not properly utilised for development as well as its infrastructures, resulting in a fairly dismal scenario for development, he added.

The INDEF (NER) president also claimed that the decentralised implementation process has made enforcement of quality control of works difficult and complicated.

“There is a growing tendency to ignore the aspect of quality assurance totally. The position is not only unfortunate but also creates a complex scenario leading to non-uniform and hazardous development, as a result of which engineers / technical officers are likely to be blamed in future, on account of this mismatch,” Tupe said.

“If this trend continues, the pace of development may face a setback in future. If the remedial measures are not evolved immediately, it will be difficult to create durable assets, which in turn may lead to a disastrous after-effect. The formation of an Engineering Commission will solve all matters for better functioning of engineering departments,” he pointed out.

Metusbo was accompanied by minister for Soil & Water Conservation, Geology and Mining, and NSDMC, V Kashiho Sangtam and advisor Youth Resources and Sports, Zale Neikha. Delegates from seven north-eastern states attended the meeting.