Govt engineers seek upgradation, professional, private practice allowances

PESHSAWAR: The engineers employed by the provincial government have started observing pen-down strike on the call of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Association of Government Engineers to highlight their demands.

There are more than 700 engineers employed by the provincial government all over the province. The association’s President Shakir Habib told The News that for the last more than six months they had conveyed their four demands to the provincial government at the highest level, but to no avail. “Now we have no option but to observe the pen-down strike to seek the attention of the government to our genuine demands,” he added.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Association of Government Engineers is seeking upgradation of the post of Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) as it argued that engineers serving for more than two decades and even more remain in grade 17 in departments like C&W and irrigation.

The second demand is provision of professional allowance to engineers already allowed to doctors and other professionals and those serving in other departments. According to the association’s president Shakir Habib, the third demand pertained to the recognition by the Higher Education Department (HED) of the Bachelor of Technology (B-Tech) degree.

He said it was unfair and unjust that those with B-Tech were being lumped together with engineers and recognized by the HED even though this degree isn’t recognized by the Pakistan Engineering Council. Besides, he said this is in violation of the Supreme Court verdict.

The fourth demand is giving private practice allowance to engineers as they deprived of this right already given to doctors and other professionals. He said the engineers would peacefully protest for the acceptance of their demands.