Amid opposition from a section of officials to the trifurcation of the Public Works Department (PWD), a meeting of Ministers was held on Monday and it was decided that the process would be hastened. It has been pending for decades.
Minister for Public Works Govind Karjol, Water Resources Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K.S. Eshwarappa met in Bengaluru and arrived at an agreement to complete the process.
Sources in the Water Resources Minister’s office said that the Ministers agreed to an immediate trifurcation, but discussions on the promotion avenues for engineers were still under way. The departmental heads have been asked to work out the modalities, including drawing up a list of engineers, their seniority, and a list of officials on deputation from the PWD, which is considered the mother department for engineering personnel resources in the State.
While the issue of bifurcating Water Resources from Public Works has been discussed since 1986, the RDPR Department has engineers on deputation from the PWD. The State Government SC/ST Employees’ Association is opposed to the trifurcation move as it has been insisting on effecting promotions for engineers before the process. It has also petitioned Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on the issue, stating that if the trifurcation is done without providing promotion opportunities, the engineers belonging to SC/ST communities would lose out.
