Diploma engineers sit on a dharna near the Assembly in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, March 1: After the doctors, it is now the turn of the diploma engineers.

Over 7,000 diploma engineers responsible for development works today proceeded on leave for 33 days to protest against “government apathy” in fulfilling their demands.

The move comes about 20 days after more than 3,000 government doctors resigned en masse to protest against the government’s “apathy and neglect” towards them.

The move of the engineers would have adverse implications in rural areas, as these officials are responsible for execution of development works in the grassroots. March is a crucial month for the implementation of most projects.

The protesting engineers work in works, water resources, urban development, rural development, panchayati raj, agriculture, steel and mines departments.

President of the Orissa Diploma Engineers’ Service Association (Odesa) said they had little choice. “We have been compelled by the government to resort to such an action,” said Nirmal Chandra Swain, the president.

On February 2, he said, the association had given one-month notice to the government stating that their demands be fulfilled by March 1 or the government face shortage of staff. Yesterday, chief secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy had convened a meeting and sought two months to review decisions taken at an earlier meeting. Odesa was apparently not pleased by this move. “It seems the government is not interested in fulfilling our genuine and longstanding demands but is just bidding time,” said Swain.

On June 8, 2007, Tripathy agreed to fulfil some demands. The departments concerned did not implement the chief secretary’s decision in this regard, said Odesa general secretary N. Kumar Nayak.

He claimed that the government had agreed to implement central pay scale, extend regular service benefits to contractual junior engineers, make junior engineers with degree as assistant engineer, re-designate diploma engineers in steel and mines department and promote junior engineers in agriculture department.