Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday constituted a five-member committee to examine matters related to the Self Help Group of Engineers Scheme (SHGES) it abolished over a month ago.
The SHGES was launched by the J&K government in 2003 wherein 30 percent of the total works in government departments, corporations and autonomous bodies was earmarked for SHGs of unemployed engineers as an alternative to government jobs.
But on August 10, the government abolished the scheme with immediate effect triggering a strong protest from the unemployed engineers as the scheme provided them an alternative employment.
Now an order issued by the General Administration has given sanction to a five-member committee chaired by Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor J&K to examine all matters related to the SHGES in its entirety.
Principal Secretaries PWD R&B, PDD and Secretaries Jal Shakti Department and Rural Development mad Panchayati Raj have been named the other four members of the committee, which has been asked to examine in detail all aspects related to the scheme including its background of its creation, the extent of its utilisation, number of SHGs and impact of the scheme on cost and quality of projects.
The committee has been asked to examine the pros and cons of the scheme and suggest an alternative course of action taking into account both public interest and future of engineers.

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