Chandigarh, January 29 - On the invitation of Diploma Engineers Association Punjab, the engineers of Water Supply and Sanitation Department staged a sit-in in front of Circle Chandigarh on the first day as part of a series of sit-ins in front of 13 circles of Punjab from January 29 to January 31. The state committee participated prominently in this sit-in of Chandigarh zone.

Addressing the protesting colleagues, the state president of Diploma Engineers Association Mr. Karamjit Singh Bihla said that it has happened for the first time in the department that in the last year and this year, there has been no transfer from assistant engineer to sub divisional engineer and from sub divisional engineer to executive engineer. There has been no promotion nor has there been any action to increase the promotion quota from fifty to seventy five percent and to reduce the time for promotion. He said that far from giving travel allowance to sub-divisional engineers, nothing is being done to restore the petrol allowance taken away from junior engineers.

Chairman of the association Mr. Sukhwinder Singh Lovely, General Secretary Mr. Arvind Saini, Finance Secretary Kamarjit Singh Mann and other leaders said that nothing is being done to implement the demands agreed in the meeting with the Minister of Water Supply. He said that nothing has been done to clear the probation period, restore the forfeited financial powers of the Sub-Divisional Engineers, increase the promotion quota, give power to the head office Patiala related to non-gazetted issues and resolve other issues. The written promises made in the meeting by the head of the department are continuously being reneged due to which there is widespread anger among all the engineers.

Chandigarh Zone President Dipansh Gupta, Zone Secretary Manjit Singh, Finance Secretary Gagandeep Singh, Kuldeep Singh, Ranjit Saini, Gurjinder Singh Barana also spoke on this occasion.