Engineers take on bureaucrats for top posts in Mizoram

Bureaucrats have hit back through a petition to Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla Sailo saying the demand is “untenable” and the government “would be saddled with … non-performing and even corrupt” officers if engineers are given secretary positions in the public works,power & electricity and public health engineer (PHE) departments,which are populated by engineers.

MESA president Vanlaltlana announced Friday the association’s members would resume wearing black ribbons to work (they had done so briefly earlier) from next week to protest against the government’s alleged inaction in meeting their demands in spite of allegedly having replied to it favorably two years ago,and decide on a future course of action at a meeting next week.

He claimed many other states too have appointed engineers as departmental secretaries,a claim MESA included in the newspaper advertisements recently and which the centrally-appointed bureaucrats have called “wrong facts.”

“Bureaucrats have targeted us engineers and have made no such protests against members of other services such as the Mizoram Civl Services,ministerial,financial and judicial service cadres holding other secretary-level posts in various state government departments,” Vanlaltlana added,and said an engineer had in the past held secretary positions in one of the state government’s technical departments.

IFS officer Rosiama Vanchhawng,secretary of the All India Service Association (Mizoram),or AISA,which has protested against fulfillment of the engineers’ demand,said such service cadres are trained to handle administrative portfolios and it was the government’s prerogative to appoint them. “Technical officers handling administrative positions would lead to bad governance,” he said.

In its petition to the CM,AISA said,“ Secretary to the government acts as interface between the department and the minister and is expected to provide dispassionate advice while submitting the case to the minister. If the post of secretary is held by an engineer,the element of checks and balances will disappear.”