Interesting scenes unfolded in front of the Water Resource Department office in Bhubaneswar as jobless civil engineers were seen polishing shoes on Engineers' Day on Friday.
As per reports, the engineers were protesting the lack of jobs even after completion of their engineering courses 5-6 years ago.
They alleged that the Odisha government is not sensitive enough about the jobs of engineers and that is why it is forcing the aspirants to appear for GATE exams to get recruited.
A protesting engineer said, “We have lodged our grievances everywhere including the Chief Secretary and the Chief Minister’s Grievance Cell. But nobody is listening to us.”
“Despite the High Court’s order to recruit civil engineers through OPSC, the Odisha government is still forcing us to take the GATE exam,” he alleged.
Another protesting engineer said, “I cleared my BTech exams in 2020, but have not got any job till now. That is why we are polishing shoes on Engineers' Day. We want to ask the State government why they are insisting on taking recruits through GATE and not from the OPSC as the Orissa High Court has ordered. I do not know who they are trying to recruit except for reappointing retired engineers.”
The Congress party also lent its support to the engineers as party leader Bijay Patnaik met them and extended his support.
Engineers' Day is held to commemorate pioneering engineer and administrator M Visvesvaraya on his birth anniversary. He was born in 1861.