Employees of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) are planning to go on strike from Monday to protest against the “misbehaviour” meted out to top officers of the utility by AAP MLAs, the Delhi Engineers’ Association said on Saturday.
Heated discussion
The decision came after DJB CEO Keshav Chandra and other senior officials were “humiliated” by the chairperson of the Delhi Assembly Committee on Government Undertakings, Vishesh Ravi, on Friday during a meeting, the association said in a statement. It was after a heated discussion over water supply and certain projects of the DJB, that the committee referred the matter to the Privileges Committee.
However, DJB chairperson Rajendra Pal Gautam said that most engineers did not support the call for strike, and only a handful senior officials were trying to “blackmail” the government.
“There was no disrespect to the officers or engineers. This issue cropped up as we are investigating allegations of wrongdoing. Those involved are feeling the heat. We will continue the investigation,” he said.
‘No personal enmity’
Mr. Gautam said that the government as well as the committees of the Assembly were only trying to ensure that there was no “misuse of public funds” and that there was no personal enmity with any official.
Many incidents: engineers
On the other hand, the association, which is supporting DJB engineers, said that there had been several incidents of misbehaviour with top officers since the AAP government came to power. According to the engineers’ association, which includes members from other government departments and agencies, the Committee on Estimates of the Assembly had asked for information about 14 sewage treatment plants. Government officials said that there had been some irregularities in the award of the contract, about which the Estimates Committee had asked for some documents.
The engineers said that the project had been recommended by Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi and was being monitored by the National Green Tribunal.
The engineers’ association pointed out that the chairperson of the Estimates Committee, Dinesh Mohaniya, was also a member and vice-chairperson of the DJB and had approved the project.
