Editor,
5 June: the day I was born twice and buried once. The same chair; the undue promotions that buried APPWD junior engineers. I’m often haunted by the thought of what could’ve been if we knew then what we know now about the future prospects of PWD JEs. That thought doesn’t visit me once in a while. It lives with me. It eats breakfast with me, walks to site with me, fills the same muster roll with me for the 17th year in a row.
I took my first breath on 5 June 47 years back. I was born again as JE under the PWD, Government of Arunachal, on 5 June, 2009. They call in coincidence.
I call it 5 June: The day I was born twice and buried Once. Because the first birth gave me life, and the second birth gave me a chair I was never allowed to leave. Joining right after graduation might have been a misstep. It felt like purpose: government job, Public Works Department, building roads, bridges – the backbone of Arunachal. We were proud. We were told we were the future.
Given the stagnation we’ve endured for 17 long years, stuck in the same role with little to no growth or recognition, that future was stolen. Seventeen long years. Say it slowly. Eighteen. Three recruitment cycles. Two governments. Countless AEs promoted as EEs while we stayed as JEs, stuck in the same role with little to no growth or recognition. It’s burial by paperwork.
Meanwhile, colleagues in other departments have been rewarded and promoted in under eight years. Eight. Not even half our waiting time. They wear new nameplates. They sign as SDO, as EE. We still sign as JE. The same stamp, the same ink, leaving us feeling undervalued and overlooked – that’s the polite way to put it. The truth: we were sacrificed to protect undue promotions. Our eyes, legs and hands cannot even withstand the overload. The monotony of the same role and status is suffocating. Suffocating is the feeling when a junior AE – appointed 10 years after us, promoted in eight years.
We feel underutilised despite years of experience. We know the hill cuts. We know the landslide zones. We know which specification will fail in the first monsoon. But our knowledge has no rank, because rank was given to undue promotions, not to service. The frustration builds every day. It doesn’t explode. It calcifies. It’s disheartening to see others advance while we’re left behind. Left behind by design. Because every time a direct AE gets promoted in 10 years, a JE with 17 years is pushed one step deeper into the forgotten file.
Hopefully, those in leadership positions will recognise our potential and provide opportunities for growth, better utilisation of our skills, and the recognition we deserve after 18 years of dedicated service. After 17 years of dedicated service, we aren’t begging. We’re billing the government for 17 years of unpaid seniority.
Furthermore, the frustration of JEs under the Public Works Department, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, stems from the flawed recruitment rules and system. Flawed is gentle. The system runs on undue promotion. Vacancies are created every couple of years, and newly recruited AEs are appointed through the APSC, wielding significant power over us – they control our ACRs, our transfers, our dignity. And again, promoted to higher post only after 10 years. Ten years for them. Eighteen and counting for us. But JEs of APPWD like myself, who have served for 17 years, are overlooked and remain underutilised and unrecognised. Unrecognised – yet every motorable road in this district was first walked by us. Overlooked because promoting us would block the next round of undue promotions.
We already have financial benefits but why does government ignore us? Yes, DA increased. Yes, 7th CPC arrears came and now 8th CPC is awaiting. But why does the government ignore us when it comes to promotion? Money without rank is compensation for silence. We don’t want compensation. We want the rank we earned in 17 years. Financial benefits do not erase 17 years of neglect. They highlight it. This is nothing but also the impact of the existing dual entry recruitment system adopted by the Government of Arunachal. Dual entry means two ladders. One ladder is for JE recruitment as us or undue promotion, and the second for direct AEs who climb it in 10 years. One ladder is for us – broken, with 17 rungs missing. The state government built both. They oil one. They hide the other. In addition to this, some juniors occupy holding posts prematurely, often through nepotism and cronyism, blocking opportunities for others.
Prematurely is the official word. The real word is undue. Undue officiating charge. Undue acting AE. Undue power over seniors. Nepotism and cronyism don’t need evidence when a 10-year junior signs your tour diary. They sit in the chair that should have been yours eight years ago, blocking opportunities for others who taught them how to use a total station. Then came the overpowering new APCS requirements – the final nail. LDCE quota slashed, direct recruitment raised, age relaxed for freshers, but not for us. They ask a 46-year-old JE to sit for an exam with 24-year-olds after 17 years of field duty, no study leave, no mercy. The new rules didn’t reform. They legalised our stagnation. This highlights the harsh reality that in Arunachal, poor and humble individuals are often trampled under the feet of the rich and powerful. Trampled by undue promotions. Trampled by 17 years of neglect. Poor and humble individuals – that’s us. The ones without political surname. The ones who thought 17 years of clean service meant something. The rich and powerful – they don’t wait 17 years. They buy the wait. Where are the so-called social activists and student leaders? Where are our representative MLAs and cabinets ministers, and the chief minister? Why don’t they (our representative MLAs) put questions in Assembly session? All are only running after power, etc, and are they dumb, deaf and blind to genuine issues. Our Social activists and students fight for APPSC paper leak. They fight for ST rights. They fight fund misappropriation. They fight illegal masjid constructions. They fight against drugs, etc, but who fights for the corruption inside the promotion list? Undue promotion is also corruption. Nepotism is also corruption. Seventeen years of neglect is administrative violence.
If you fight for the youths, fight for the youths who became old waiting in the JE chair. Don’t pick your corruption. Fight all of it. Or admit you only fight where the cameras are. Who will listen to our inner cry? God or government? God listens. But god doesn’t cancel undue promotions. God doesn’t write the cabinet note for one-time relaxation. God doesn’t ask the AAPSU why JE stagnation isn’t on their memorandum. The government is where they dump 17-year JEs after undue promotions are notified.
The ‘subject to availability of vacancy’ clause that never becomes available for us. 17 years. If a PMGSY road takes five years’ CBI investigates, if a man’s career takes five years to move one post, everyone – the government, AAPSU, activists, CBOs, panchayat leaders, MLAs, ministers – looks away. We didn’t fail the department. The department chose undue promotion over us. We didn’t refuse growth. Growth was given to others, prematurely, repeatedly, while we were told “next time.” So here I am. Born on 5 June. Buried on 5 June. Still JE. Still neglected for 17 years. Still watching undue promotions happen above us. Still building Arunachal with hands that have financial benefits but no rank. After 17 years, we aren’t asking for sympathy. We’re demanding correction: Cancel undue promotions. Abolish the dual entry system and adopt a single-entry system for JEs (Group-B gazetted officer) with a time-bound promotion structure; offer a transformative solution to longstanding career stagnation. By fixing clear timelines – promotion from JE to AE after 10 years, AE to EE after eight years, EE to SE after seven years, SE to CE after six years, and CE to secretary or commissioner after five years, or based on cumulative service length – the system would ensure fairness, predictability, and dignity for engineers. This approach eliminates dual entry disparities, removes arbitrary officiating orders, and guarantees that experience and service length are rewarded consistently. It does not impose additional financial burden, as salaries already align under ACP/MACP schemes, but it confers authority, recognition, and motivation. Engineers would have a clear career path and reduced frustration and attrition, while simultaneously improve institutional stability and public service delivery.
In essence, this model balances merit with experience, strengthens morale, and ensures that long-serving engineers rise to leadership positions, thereby fostering efficiency, accountability, and community impact.
Frustrated JE,
PWD, AP
