Bhubaneswar: Engineers are indispensable to development of infrastructure and living conditions in a society, said State Finance Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha at the 78th annual conference of Odisha Diploma Engineers Service Association here Tuesday. Joining the event as the chief guest, Arukha said that from blocks in the suburban and remote areas of the state to the Capital Bhubaneswar, diploma engineers are making their presence known by providing their valuable services to the progress of the state. “Technology is widely needed and used in every field of life. The idea of harnessing natural resources in improving the standard of living of human beings and its practical and successful implementation at the grass root level is possible only through diploma engineers. Like building a bridge over a river for the convenience of transportation, junior engineers build the bridge that connects science and technology with society,” said the minister.
Notably, the Odisha Diploma Engineers Service Association has a membership of more than 8,500 professionals who are working across all departments of the state government such as Water Resources, Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water, Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment, Steel and Mines and Trade and Transport. “The engineers are contributing to several programmes being implemented by the government to build better transport facilities and infrastructure in rural areas. Be it Biju Setu Yojana, Mukhyamantri Sadak Yojana, building concrete roads, highways, buildings, hospitals, supply of drinking water, electricity, rural infrastructure, diploma engineers are everywhere,” said association president Shrikant Mahapatra. Arukha also said that the functioning of the 46 district-level committees and all 314 blocklevel committees of the union indicates the strength of the association.