Bhubaneswar: As many as 257 Junior Engineers (Civil) today joined the State Water Resources Department. 87 of them are women engineers.
An orientation programme was organised at the Convention Centre in Lok Seva Bhawan.
Joining the programme on virtual platform, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik congratulated the new engineers asked them to work with passion towards the job, with honesty and sensitivity towards the people of the State. He wished them a bright future.
The CM said that apart from providing irrigation facilities to the farmers, the Water Resources Department is also responsible for flood management to protect the life and property of our people. He added that the state has more than two thousand five hundred dams and work for some major dams like Lower Suktel, Kanpur and Ghatkeswar are in progress.
He further said that the Water Resources Department is also constructing 30 Instream Storage Structures and 16 more are in the pipeline located across different rivers of the State with a budget outlay of about Rs. 12 thousand crore. These structures will provide double benefit with conservation of surface water and increase in the ground water table, he added.
Junior Engineers have a greater role for on-site supervision of new projects as well as operation and maintenance of completed projects and ensuring designed irrigation to agricultural land.
He expressed happiness over the Department’s efforts towards IT enabled governance leading to greater accountability efficiency and transparency.
The CM launched a procurement management information system PROMISe, which will be very useful in managing different steps of procurement with up-to-date information, records and status of different works.
He announced that a comprehensive computer application, Water ERP will be launched soon which has been taken up under the 5T Initiative. This will be highly useful in the overall planning and management of irrigation and flood in an efficient manner on a real time basis, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Water Resources Tukuni Sahu said that the Chief Minister has envisioned transformative initiatives for the state which will put the state in a higher pedestal among states. He appealed the new engineers to work with responsibility and commitment to the people.
Three new engineers Sthitipragyan Biswal, Lokesh Bal, and Nikita Majhi, sharing their experiences, said that the recruitment process has been absolutely transparent and timely. They committed to work for the transformative initiatives under the mandate of 5T and Mo Sarkar.
Secretary to CM (5T) VK Pandian moderated the programme.
Water Resources Department ACS Anu Garg, in her welcome address, said that the department is in top gear for recruitment of engineers at different levels. She also highlighted the technology applications the department is taking up to bring more transparency and efficiency in water management. Water Resources EIC offered the vote of thanks.