The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Panel to tackle problems of engineers sought

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Saturday, Aug 06, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Panel to tackle problems of engineers sought

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD: Speakers at the 20th annual convention of the Indian Engineers' Federation (INDEF) here have demanded setting up of an engineering commission and appointment of only technical personnel to lead engineering departments in the Government.

The commission would serve as a common platform for engineers from different technical fields. `Initiative needed'

The INDEF chairman, S.K. Banerjee, regretted non-involvement of technical personnel in the conceptual stages of projects. It was leading to a lack of technical excellence and quality control.

"It is unfortunate that policy-makers are surrendering to bureaucrats. If politicians can kickstart an initiative to give us our due, engineers can tackle the overbearing nature of bureaucrats," he said.

The Minister for Major Irrigation, Ponnala Lakshmaiah, who inaugurated the two-day meet hosted by the Andhra Pradesh Engineers' Federation (APEF), said he would discuss the issue of the commission with the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. He said the Government would consider the APEF's demand for allocation of land for an "Engineers Building".

As for considering appointment of engineers as head of irrigation department instead of IAS officers he said he could not promise them anything.

Those who spoke at the conference on the theme, "Role of engineers in nation-building" included Secretaries-General M. Nagaraju (INDEF), P. Ram Reddy (APEF), Engineers-in-Chief, G. Krishnamurthy (Panchayati Raj), B. Prabhakar Rao (R & B), M.K. Rahaman (Irrigation) and K.S.N. Reddy (Irrigation and Command Area Development).

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