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Most of the eminent Engineers from various Indian states attended, The Chief Guest was an Eminent Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, India (IEI) who is the Honorable Governor of Tripura, Assam State and the Guest of Honor was another Eminent Fellow of IEI and scientific adviser to the Central Government.
All the memorial lectures were organized as events of the Annual session and a number of Visionary talks were also organized to discuss the role of Engineers in the development of India in the next century in such great level with both Indian and foreign investors participation.
It was stressed during the session that both domestic and foreign entrepreneurs are being encouraged to make capital and technological investments in India with a view to produce goods of global quality and standards. The focus is on job creation and skill development. It is hoped that increased production inside India will lead to higher GDP, better export and greater realization of tax revenues and enable government to spend more on welfare schemes.
Further, at the beginning of month of February, as President of IESL, I attended the 56th Convention of Institution of Engineers Bangladesh along with two Vice Presidents. The theme of the convention was “Engineers for Sustainable Development”.
The Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina was the Chief Guest and she was present throughout the inaugural session. The Prime Minister urged the Engineers to undertake development plans in a planned way to serve the country’s maximum number of people with minimum expenditure. She further stressed that government wants to steer the country towards progress fast and it partly depends on the skill and sincerity of engineers and quick implementation of projects to change the fate of the country’s neglected people. The Prime minister said that the government is working tirelessly to achieve that goal and that the government is implementing its vision 2021 to turn Bangladesh into a middle income digital nation and a developed one by 2041.
She said building poverty – free nation is not possible without educated people and that is why the government recognized role of Engineers in development strategies.
She also declared open the fifteen stories IEB headquarters in Dakar for which the government had sponsored full financial support to complete the building.
Both these experiences are of much relevance in the Sri Lankan context and Engineers have to play a major role in our country’s development. The IESL Code of Ethics No 8 fully describes, the responsibility of the engineer in sustainable management of natural resources and minimum adverse environmental impact of their engineering work and application of technology so as to protect both present and future generations.
During the last few years engineers were blamed for various reasons such as excessive expenditure for developments and environmental hazards due to development. Most of our members are of the view that, it is our duty to bring such malpractices to the notice of general public to avoid the blames being laid on Engineers.
During the month of January IESL focused its attention on problems expected to arise for Engineers due to CEPA bilateral agreement and the present proposed ETCA bilateral agreement. Trade organizations of Engineers forums and other professional institutions came forth to address this issue as well as to discuss this matter with the government authorities. Several discussion were held with Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment and higher authorities and Consultants of the Ministry have finally agreed to disclose the proposed agreement to professionals as well as not to open the services sector for foreigners,
The IESL professional Affairs committee also decided to organize seminars with the support of other professional Institutions to discuss the Port City Development Project, Megapolis City Development Project, Railway Electrification Project etc. to create awareness among our membership as well as to strength project officials and the government with valuable suggestions for sustainable developments.
Thank you.
Eng. Wimalasena Gamage
President of IESL
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