New Delhi: Members of the CPWD Engineers Association on Tuesday staged a protest outside Nirman Bhawan here over the illegal detention of two colleagues in Ramban district by Jammu and Kashmir Police on directions of Amarnath Shrine Board CEO Nitishwar Kumar.
A heavy police deployment was made at the protest site.
Later, the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) engineers met Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri and submitted a memorandum, demanding apology from CEO Kumar for “illegal detention” and alleged misbehaviour with two CPWD engineers, R K Mattu and Rizwan Alam, in J&K.
“We visited Hardeep Singh Puri’s office and demanded a formal apology from the concerned officer. We wrote to J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on May 26, but received no response from him. We will continue our protest until they explain and apologise for the unlawful detention,” President of CPWD Engineers Association Neeraj Kalia told PTI.
Through the memorandum, the association has demanded that the matter be taken up with Ministry of Home Affairs and J&K LG for disciplinary action, and “devise a mechanism to prevent such incidents in the future”.
On May 26, the engineers’ body wrote to the J&K LG and alleged that the chief executive officer of Amarnath Shrine Board misbehaved with two of their engineers and “illegally detained them for 12 hours”.
“Followed by a heated argument at work, the Amarnath Shrine Board CEO directed the SSP of Ramban district to illegally detain two of our engineers. This is blatant misuse of power by an administrative officer,” said Rajesh Agarwal, secretary of the association.
As per the memorandum, an altercation took place between the CEO and two CPWD engineers during an inspection at a project site. The association alleged that the detention was ordered on the pretext of not “completing petty works”.
PTI

Press Trust of India