JAMMU: The Jal Shakti Department on Friday launched a weekly “Knowledge Sharing and Ideation” workshop series aimed at promoting continuous learning, professional development and exchange of technical knowledge among engineers and officers.
The series was inaugurated by Jal Shakti Minister Javed Ahmad Rana in the presence of Additional Chief Secretary Shaleen Kabra. Revived as a regular platform, the initiative will focus on sharing technical innovations, field experiences, good practices and emerging technologies related to departmental works.
Rana termed the initiative a cost-effective way to enhance engineers’ professional skills and stressed the need for continuous learning, adoption of new technologies and greater use of Artificial Intelligence to improve service delivery. He also urged other government departments to replicate similar capacity-building measures.
The workshops will be held every Friday from 4 pm to 5 pm and will be attended by engineers and gazetted officers of the department. The inaugural virtual session saw participation of 1,519 engineers from across Jammu and Kashmir, including 788 from Kashmir and 731 from Jammu, with all Chief Engineer offices, 14 Superintending Engineer offices and 74 Executive Engineer offices connected.
The first session featured presentations on “Flood Plain Zoning and Risk Management of River Tawi” by Er Sunil Singh, AEE, Flood Control Division Samba, and “Seismic Safety of Structures” by Er Mueed Rasool, Executive Engineer, I&FC Kupwara. The session concluded with an interactive question-and-answer segment.
Officials said future workshops will cover technical and engineering issues, project planning and implementation, AI, emerging technologies, innovations, digital platforms, public service delivery and departmental procedures. The programme will also provide a platform for engineers from different wings to share practical solutions and successful field experiences.
The Design, Inspection and Quality Control (DIQC) wing has been designated as the nodal agency for coordinating the workshops. Constituted under Government Order No. 91-JK(JSD) of 2026, DIQC is mandated to strengthen technical scrutiny, quality assurance, inspection and advisory mechanisms in the department.
The department highlighted its ongoing focus on technology-enabled learning, stating that all 15,556 employees have been registered on the Government of India’s i-GOT Karmayogi platform, recording 3.20 lakh course completions. It also claimed the top position among UT departments in course completions, Sadhana Saptah participation, overall capacity building and AI-related courses.
The initiative will also support orientation and capacity building of newly appointed Assistant Engineers and Junior Engineers by exposing them to departmental procedures, field responsibilities, project execution and modern engineering practices. A dedicated orientation programme for new technical personnel is also being planned.
Officials said DIQC will maintain a repository of presentations and learning material generated through the workshops and host them on its website. It will also explore development of online courses based on workshop proceedings using Government of India e-learning platforms.
Additional Chief Secretary Shaleen Kabra said the online format helps break hierarchical barriers by enabling junior officials to directly interact with senior officers and experts while remaining informed about innovations and best practices across the department.
The department said the workshop series is envisaged as a long-term institutional mechanism for professional development and technical capacity building aimed at improving the quality and efficiency of engineering works and public service delivery.
