Whosoever can address this issue!
I am a serving engineer in the Public Works Department (PWD) in Leh district. Based on my experience, I feel that there is a dire need for a training facility for serving Civil Engineers (and engineers in general) in Ladakh.
I was inducted in 2015 in PWD Department as a Junior Engineer. Much to my dismay and shock, we didn’t have any sort of orientation programme, forget the sort of intensive training that doctors, teachers and civil servants have to undergo when they join service.
In this regard, there is an urgent need to establish a technical training facility in Ladakh to cater to the needs of all technical training. On following grounds:
1) Engineers (Civil Engineering in my case) are not directly responsible for people’s lives like doctors. However, we are indirectly responsible for many lives. In view of this responsibility, periodic training is necessary in the whole spectrum of skills exercised by an engineer including designing and executing safer buildings and roads.
2) Since no training is available, newly inducted and serving engineers have no options but to resort to past (archaic) practices that we have learnt in college.
3) We need to stay updated with new technologies at construction sites (say with new survey equipment ranging from total stations to drone surveys) and software used in everyday management of office and project work. In this regard, a proper technical facility for engineers is necessary to stay updated. Else, it is quite likely that many serving engineers will become obsolete in the near future.
4) Ever since Ladakh was declared a Union Territory, there is a surge of developmental funds and engineers must be oriented and trained properly to utilise the funds properly and in a timely manner.
5) In addition to technical knowledge, engineers also need to meet people on a daily basis. Good interpersonal skills are a must to ensure smooth functioning in public dealing in the office. Accordingly, periodic training must include like communication and interpersonal skills.
This matter requires an urgent solution that will cater to training to technical employees on the same lines as the Education department (District Institute for Education and Training).
In this regard, we engineers have approached Deputy Commissioner, Leh (letter attached), the hon’ble Lieutenant Governor and the Hon’ble Member of Parliament. I now appeal to the larger public to help us find a solution to this urgent need.
Tsering Angchok Mayur
Tsering Angchok Mayur is a Junior Engineer in the PWD Department, Leh.