The engineering fraternity has expressed gratitude to the Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti and the Finance Minister, Dr Haseeb Drabu for announcing several employee-friendly measures in the State Budget.A joint delegation of All Jammu & Kashmir Graduate Engineering Associations including civil, electrical and mechanical called on the Finance Minister here today to personally thank him for the measures announced in the Budget for the employees including implementation of 7th Pay Commission Recommendations and Assured Career Progression. “We are especially humbled by the appreciation extended by the Dr Drabu to all the government employees for their support and cooperation,” they said.They said it is for the first time in the recent administrative history of J&K that any Government has acknowledged and addressed the problems of the engineers in this historical budget. “The Finance Minister was gracious enough in acknowledging the dismal condition of the engineers by quoting the fact that the engineers, in spite of serving the state for decades in the ranks of Chief Engineers / Superintending Engineers, retire at the substantive post of Assistant Engineer or an Assistant Executive Engineer because of non-availability of an structured Career Progression Scheme,” they said and added that they are also thankful to the Finance Minister for acknowledging the issue of pay anomalies and assuring to address the same.They said this kind gesture of the Finance Minister will go a long way in boosting the morale of the engineering fraternity. The Engineering Associations also welcomed the first ever employee friendly budget in general and hoped that the concerns of the engineers including the pay anomalies at all levels are attended and redressed before the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission.The Engineers delegation comprised Er Farooq Ahmed Ganie, Er Gandeep Pragwal, Er Firdous Ahad Bhat, Er Ravinder Singh (Presidents of Civil, Mechanical and Electrical Associations), Er Pirzada Hidaytullah, Er Gopal Sharma, Er Shakil-ur-Rahman, Er Anil Thapa, Er Shabir Ahmad Tak, Er Ashish Basin and others.