Punjab's senior engineers found absent during surprise check

Several senior engineers and scores of other staff members of Punjab's irrigation department were found absent from their offices during a surprise check Tuesday.

"Two chief engineers, two superintending engineers, 12 executive engineers along with 20 other Class-I officers, 126 Class-III and 71 Class-IV employees were found absent during the surprise check," a Punjab government spokesman said Tuesday.

Led by irrigation secretary Kahan Singh Pannu, 10 teams inspected irrigation department offices in Chandigarh and Mohali Tuesday at 9.15 a.m. and found the officials absent.

Pannu said the surprise checks were conducted to verify the attendance of officers and other employees. He said that competent authorities in the department have been directed to take necessary action against those found absent.