Deputy Commissioner Rajouri should Revoke the Order of Suspension; Otherwise engineers and contractors shall go on strike.

Rajouri March 22:–In a bizarre order the District Development Commissioner Rajouri Rajesh Kumar Shavan suspended a Junior Engineer for not deputing the men and machinery at night for the construction of a road in double shift. The whole engineering fraternity strongly condemned the action of the  authority and allege that this order is absolutely without any application of mind as even a layman knows that deputing men and machinery at site is the job of contractor not a junior engineer as such suspending an engineer for this is nothing but absolutely misuse of authority by the District Development Commissioner. The Engineers further said that the authorities want to reign a sense of terror in the engineers for the reason best known to the perpetrators of such bizarre order. Some of the engineers also said that the delay in execution of various work is only due to seizure of stone crushers for about one and a half month by the authorities.

When contacted regarding the matter President District Contractor Association Rajouri Ashfaq Magray said that we have signed agreement of the works with the competent authority in which the method of execution of the work is clearly mentioned  and in the whole agreement there is no clause regarding execution of the work in double shift. He further said that the District Development Commissioner cannot direct anything outside the purview of the tender document as it amounts to creating a new agreement for which we are neither willing nor bound to do. When Contacted the President Peer Panchal Contractor Association Shafqat Wani regarding the matter, he said that the District Development Commissioner is totally acting without any application of mind firstly in seizing the whole stone crushers of district Rajouri and thereafter allowing them to operate after wasting one and an half month of peak working season. He further said that as per the terms and conditions of the contract , the powers to do communication with the contactor lies with the authorities not less than the rank of Executive Engineer, as such suspending Junior Engineer for this is nothing but a sheer misuse of official position.

Whereas some of the contractors namely Mohd Yaqoob, Shakoor Ahmed ,Lucky Sharma also allege that to save his skin from the grudge of  the higher authorities for low performance in construction of various infrastructure projects due to arbitrary seizure of stone crushers, the said officer is now harassing engineers and contractors to work in double shift, for which the contractors are not agreeing.

Sources further said that in case the District Development Commissioner don’t revoke this strange order , the engineers and the contractors shall go on strike, which will further result into delay in completion of the developmental works.