Bhubaneswar: As many as 106 Junior Engineers (Mechanical) joined today the Water Resources Department. All of them have been recruited through State Staff Selection Commission.
Welcoming the new engineers on a virtual platform, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik asked them to get themselves acquainted with new technologies.
He said, “Being technocrats, I expect all of you to be in sync with changing and new technologies that can bring efficiency and transparency to your work. That will help achieve the mandate of our 5T initiative of the state.”
Naveen said that the Water Resources Department has taken up construction of 30 In-stream Storage Structures and 16 more are in the pipeline located across different rivers. These structures will not only help in conserving surface water for different purposes including rural water supply, but also enhance the groundwater level, he added.
Odisha is primarily an agrarian state and this department has a major responsibility of providing irrigation facilities to the farmers. “It is also our responsibility to protect the life and property of people from natural calamities like floods with scientific management of reservoir waters. We have more than two thousand five hundred dams and construction of some more dams like Lower Suktel, Deo, Kanpur, and Ghatkeswar are in progress.”
Focussing on the value of water resources, he said that with an ever-growing population, water is increasingly becoming a scarce resource. In this context, Engineers of Water Resources Department have to play a major role in the conservation of water for different purposes like drinking water, irrigation, hydroelectric power, industry, Pisciculture, and ecological balance, he stressed on the significant role of engineers in state’s development.
Highlighting the role of mechanical engineers, he said that though the civil construction works are done by Civil Engineers, Mechanical Engineers have a greater role for the installation of one of the important components of the hydraulic structures such as gate works including their operation and maintenance.
Water Resources Minister Tukuni Sahu, and Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra also spoke on the occasion. Interacting with the new recruits, Secretary to CM (5T) VK Pandian advised the engineers to have complete trust on their own merit. “As you have come through purely a merit based recruitment process, you should work without any fear or favour.”
ACS Water Resources Anu Garg gave the welcome address and EIC Water Resources offered the vote of thanks.
