More than 1,500 engineers of the rural development department which executes Central and state projects worth about Rs 20,000 crore a year are demanding the formation of a separate division like other states.
The engineers are also disgusted as they are denied pay hike on a par with their counterparts in the highways department and PWD.
The engineering officials’ federation has appealed to chief minister J. Jayalalithaa to create a separate division, headed by a chief engineer, to help them deliver quality service, especially when the projects executed by them require technical know-how.
Except Tamil Nadu, almost all states have separate divisions for engineers, a federation spokesman said. “Even the state agriculture department, which implements projects for `2,000 crore a year, has a separate engineering department,” he said.
More than 1,500 engineers and 2,600 overseers and road inspectors work under the collectors at the district-level and commissioners, at the state-level.
While pressing for a separate division, the executive engineers, assistant executive engineers and assistant engineers are waging a legal battle for pay parity with their counterparts in the highways department and PWD.
After the Rajiv Ranjan committee redressed the pay commission anomaly, the previous DMK government revised their pay structure in 2010.
When a section of the rural development department staff opposed pay hike for the Engineers and launched a stir, the government passed another order (71 GO) and withdrew the pay hike for engineers, both in rural development and highways and PWD departments The highways department and PWD engineers, however, managed to get the enhanced pay after the Madras HC stayed 71-GO. The court had also directed the state finance department to form a panel to go into the issue.