Nagpur: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation is at it again. Over 3 dozen engineers of NMC seem to be caught in “so near but still so far” situation. The ruling party, on April 18 this year, hesitatingly approved long pending promotions of Junior Engineers, Assistant Engineers (Grade-II) and Divisional Engineers numbering over three dozen. Two months have passed to the promotion decision but the promoted lot have still not been allotted new departments nor assigned new responsibilities. For this frustrating the situation the promoted engineers are blaming the lackadaisical attitude of NMC administration as well as the ruling party. Now, they are even smelling the corruption rat behind the irresponsible act.
Since the past three decades the NMC Administration had stalled the promotions of over 3 dozen Junior Engineers, Assistant Engineers (Grade-II) and Divisional Engineers for no plausible reasons. Even the office-bearers, during the long period, never tried to provide justice to the engineers obviously for “personal” reasons.
The Ruling Party, for the sake of a show off, brought the promotion issue before the General Body Meetings frequently but the lack of a “gainful deal” on the part of beneficiaries, the promotions were deferred from one meeting to another. However, buckling under intense pressure, the ruling party finally, albeit hesitatingly, approved the long pending promotions of over three dozen engineers on April 18, 2016 meeting. But for the beneficiaries, the gains of promotions are yet to reach them as no further course of action has been initiated either by NMC Administration or the ruling party.
Irony of this sordid episode is that two of the beneficiary engineers were handed over promotion orders on the day of their retirement farewell function. For other promoted engineers the situation is not so cheerful either. They have still not been allotted new departments nor assigned any new responsibilities and thus leaving them in the lurch.
On the other hand, when the matter was scanned further deep, it is learnt that over a dozen officials, “favourites” of top babus and office-bearers, were sly handed over additional responsibilities according their demands. Obviously, out of a “deal.” These additional responsibilities could have given to promoted engineers but then the “gains” would not have reached the top babus and the office-bearers.
Will these dubious affairs in NMC put the Nagpur city in the list of ‘Samrt City’? is the moot question.
Faced with this tricky situation, the ‘promoted’ engineers are mulling to meet Municipal Commissioner through Chief Minister and urge him for justice.
– Rajeev Ranjan Kushwaha ( rajeev.nagpurtoday@gmail.com )
