Engineers welcome notification on municipal building bylaws

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, November 23

The Council of Engineers has welcomed the gazette notification on the Punjab Municipal Building Bylaws 2018.

Council members said the government has permitted graduate and diploma engineers to prepare and submit building plans and information connected to the permit.

Kapil Arora of the Council of Engineers said: “We welcome the notification and request the Local Government Department to arrange online training programmes for civil engineers in similar manner as it was done for architects. Since we are also registered by the statutory body — Institution of Engineers — all graduate engineers must also be permitted to use their registration number issued by the Institution of Engineers (India) to get online registration with the department.”

“However, the department has restricted the practices of engineers for plot area up to 500 sq meters (almost 600 sq yards) and as per the National Building Code of India-2016, civil engineers are equally competent to prepare building plans for all sizes, there should not be any restriction on the size of plot for engineers also. For this, the Council of Engineers is in regular touch with the department,” he said.

Arora said they had earlier moved the High Court for their rights, after which, the Local Government Department invited members of the Council of Engineers to a meeting in 2017. “Earlier, we held a peaceful protest in front of the department office in Chandigarh, which was followed by a legal notice to department and civil writ petition. We will be always working for the rights of the engineers,” he said.