Step to bring much-needed transparency, accountability
Duties, responsibilities, powers to be clearly defined
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Aug 27: Adopted several decades back from the British system of engineering practice, the Jammu and Kashmir Public Works Department Manual is all set to be updated in order to bring much-needed transparency and accountability. Moreover, duties, responsibilities and powers of each and every engineer from the inception of projects to their completion will be clearly defined to avoid any sort of confusion.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that J&K PWD Manual was adopted several decades back from the British system of engineering practice and since then it has not been updated in the term of a comprehensive document.
Time and again, the Public Works Department has felt the need for a consolidated document which will be reckoned as engineering reference for all activities ranging from inception of project to its completion, they further said.
In order to complete the process, Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir constituted a Technical Advisory Team vide Order No.34/2005/ PWD dated 04-07-2020 for drafting the engineering manual as part of institutional strengthening of Public Works Department under the guidance of Development Commissioner Works.
Finally, the draft of J&K PWD Engineering Manual 2020 has been prepared after detailed analysis of various manuals of other States besides Central Public Works Department (CPWD) Manual 2019.
Stating that with the passage of time various documents have been adopted from various States of India to compile rules for the award and execution of contracts, sources said, “while drafting J&K PWD Engineering Manual all these documents have been brought under one cover with necessary modifications. Ambiguities, if any, in previous practices have also been clarified in this manual”.
They further said, “in general, all engineering practices have been standardized and set of procedures have been worked out to bring transparency and accountability in the deliberation of powers at all levels”, adding “the updated engineering manual will bring financial discipline and accountable code of practice in the Engineering Department”.
Moreover, modern technical interventions have been incorporated in the manual besides quality assurance with three tier inspection mechanism and linking all of them to web portal. “The standardization of engineering practices will finally lead to uniform code of practice, which will bring more transparency and accountability”, the Government said, adding “the general public will also be aware of the working system of the department, which will guarantee the safety of public interests”.
The draft of the J&K PWD Engineering Manual has been put in the public domain till September 15, 2020 for perusal of engineering fraternity and retired officers of the department.
In the draft manual, the powers, duties and responsibilities of Development Commissioner Works, Chief Engineers, Circle Office, Division Office and Sub-Division Office etc have been clearly defined so as to avoid any sort of confusion in ensuring strict adherence to the manual.
Even the role and responsibilities of the Human Resource Development Cell, Vigilance/ Disciplinary Action Committee, IT Cell, Quality Control Cell, Environment and Social Cell, Design Research Investigations and Quality Control Cell, J&K Highway Research Institute and DIQC Laboratory have been clearly defined in the manual.
It has been explicitly mentioned in the draft manual that PWD officers who control works shall see that the provisions of the safety code and protection arrangements are strictly adhered to and the inspecting officers shall take necessary action in this regard.
Moreover, all the engineers will be held responsible for ensuring that the environmental requirements warranted in the Manual are met in their respective job functions and if there will be any disobedience, malingering, insolence etc on the part of the subordinates, it will be open for the controlling officer to initiate disciplinary proceedings against them after reporting the matter to the higher authority.
“No doubt the Government is shortly going to notify the updated manual but it should ensure that all its aspects are strictly adhered to and implementation is periodically reviewed otherwise entire exercise is not going to serve any purpose”, sources stressed.
Having updated PWD Manual assumes importance as the department is the statutory authority for designing, planning, monitoring, constructing and undertaking maintenance of public works of the Government such as buildings, roads, bridges, hospitals etc irrespective of the source of funds for the same.
Moreover, the department also takes up works on PPP and Turn Key basis with financial support from outside agencies including international agencies.
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