The decision of the state government to send the engineers belonging to the public works department (PWD) for refresher training courses deserves to be appreciated. The engineers are being trained in prominent technical institutes of the country, like the North Eastern Regional Institute of Science & Technology and at the CSIR’s Central Building Research Institute in Roorkee, Uttarakhand. The move will definitely have a positive impact, and it has the potential to improve the working standards of the department. The PWD is the premier engineering department of the state. Most of the major infrastructure projects, including national and state highways, are being executed by the department.
Undergoing such training will help the engineers to gain newer knowledge, which in turn will help them in executing projects in a much better way. With the changing times, technologies, too, are evolving; therefore it is important for the engineers of the state to keep themselves updated. This move of the PWD to send their engineers for training will possibly change the work culture in the state. The other works departments should take a cue from the PWD and organize training programmes for the engineers working in their departments. Over the years, the works departments have gained notoriety for corruption. The notion that every engineer is corrupt, which is not the fact, has hurt the image of the engineers working in various works departments. If they start delivering quality works, these accusations will also end. Quality works can be achieved by using new technologies. Therefore, it becomes pertinent to organize training for the engineers on a regular basis to make them aware of the latest technologies.