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Defense Minister Rajnath Singh (File Photo) & nbsp | & nbsp Photo credit: & nbspANI
New Delhi: Defense Minister Rajnath Singh approved the abolition of 9,304 posts in the military engineering services on Thursday. Singh approved the proposal of the chief engineer of the Military Engineering Services (MES) for the optimization of more than 9,300 positions in the basic and industrial workforce.
“It is in line with the recommendations of the Committee of Experts, headed by Lt. Gen. Shekatkar, which recommended measures to improve combat capabilities and rebalance defense spending by the Armed Forces,” the Defense Ministry said.
One of the recommendations made by the Committee was to restructure the civilian workforce so that MES work could be carried out in part by staff employed by the department and other work could be outsourced.
In accordance with the recommendations formulated by the Committee, based on the proposal of the chief engineer, MES, the proposal to abolish 9,304 posts in the MES out of the total of 13,157 vacancies of basic and industrial personnel was approved.
The recommendation aimed to make MES an effective organization with a “more agile workforce, well equipped to handle complex problems in the emerging arena in an efficient and cost-effective manner.”
MES role
Military Engineer Services is the primary construction agency and one of the pillars of the Indian Army Corps of Engineers, which provides rear-line engineering support to the Armed Forces. It is one of the largest construction and maintenance agencies in India with a total annual budget of approximately Rs 13 billion.
It is responsible for creating the strategic and operational infrastructure in addition to the main roads, as well as the administrative habitat for the three Services and associated organizations of the Ministry of Defense. It has a pan-Indian footprint to provide engineering support to various Army, Air Force, Navy, and DRDO formations.
For this, the MES has more than six hundred stations spread across the mainland and island territories of India. The MES is a military organization but has both military and civilian components of officers and other subordinate personnel. The organization was created more than 200 years ago to run both civil and military infrastructure.
In the 18th century, the construction organization was part of the Army, as the Department of Public Works (PWD) led by the Indian Corps of Engineers was created under the control of a Military Junta. In 1851, the PWD came under civilian control but was responsible for civil and military works.
In 1881, the PWD branch of Military Works was segregated and transferred to the Military Department. The Military Works Services, headed by a Director General, were created in 1889. The Committee of the “Army in India” (1919-20) placed the Military Works under the Fourth Master General and the Sappers and Miners under the Head of State. Higher.
The two engineering wings were combined under the chief engineer. The MES was formed in December 1923 with the chief engineer as chief. Initially, it was composed of exclusive personnel of the Corps of Engineers, but later it reached a composite character by inducing civilians.
The MES operates under the general control of the Chief Engineer, who is the advisor to the Ministry of Defense and the three Services on operational and peacetime construction activities. The Military Engineering Services are responsible for the design, construction and maintenance of all the infrastructure assets of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force.
It is structured to design works that are carried out through contracts under the supervision of officers and personnel made up of civilians and Corps of Engineers fighters. It has a comprehensive multidisciplinary team of architects, civil, electrical and mechanical engineers, structural designers, quantity surveyors and contract specialists for the planning, design and supervision of works.
Civilian cadres consist of four main cadres who are Engineering, Surveyor cadre, Architect and BSO (all are qualified engineers), and an administrative cadre.
