My Association with the Construction Industry in the Indian Sub-Continent

By Sajal Kumar Dey

The title of the book symbolizes the nature of the author's involvement in an industry which plays a vital role in developing basic infrastructures needed for the all round development of a country like India. The author has documented some of the major civil construction projects of the Indian Sub-continent, from its inception to handover, the

• Language: English
• Publisher: 24by7 Publishing
• Release date: Jul 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9788196118501

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Disclaimer

This book is a work of non–fiction. All the events in this memoir are true to the best of the author’s memory. The individual and company names have been used to maintain the originality of his experiences over the years. It is not intended to hurt any individual or the image of any company. The views expressed in this memoir are solely those of the author. The author makes no guarantees concerning the level of success you may experience by following the advice and strategies contained in this book.

Preface

This article’s title symbolizes the nature of my involvement in an industry that plays a vital role in developing basic infrastructures needed for the all-round development of a country like India.

In present scenario, India plays a vital role in advocating peace and harmony in the world. I am thankful that I did get the privilege of acquiring experience in civil construction work in India, having potential for a wide range of civil construction right from hydro-electric power projects, roads, bridges, steel industry complexes, thermal and atomic power plants, irrigation projects, tunnels for shortening road lengths in different terrains and hill track and seaports, etc.

During the initial mobilization and execution of projects, I faced multiple prolonged hurdles which compelled us to think about the wind-up of the project in question. Still, our continuous innovations and thought processes have contributed much to find out a solution for overcoming the said hurdles and opening ways for us to look forward.

Throughout my working period, I acquired various experiences at project sites about different aspects like rock formation of the project site, environmental effects, and social influence in the work area. But ultimately, we could win over those hurdles resulting in the successful completion of the project.

My dear readers, I have taken pain in compiling the reports elaborately to make them useful for all who need guidance. You will find in the reports that our presence of mind contributed significantly to tackling the odd situations.

Also, you would find herein that we had faced different types of peculiar situations that stalled our work progress for specific periods. Still, we applied other innovative techniques to win over the hurdles. We came out successful at the end by correcting the deficiency.

I do hope that my reports will benefit you in facing such situations in your workplace to win over the hurdles.

The construction industry plays a major role in the development of a country by contributing to making infrastructures required for power generation, transport, industrial establishments, seaports, etc.

India has well-established and renowned civil construction companies that have contributed sufficiently to developing infrastructures with indigenous engineering and technical skills. Now at the stage, we are not required to defend solely on foreign technology in the field.

S. K. Dey

About the author

Sajal Kumar Dey has compiled his experience in a volume that gives some outline of the civil construction projects handled by him during his tenure under major players of the Indian Sub-continent. He had taken enough pain in compiling those activities, which had given much pain in overcoming them to ensure sustained progress of work at the project site. It is hoped that his rich experience will benefit the new generation in the years to come.

He was initially working in the industrial sector. In the later stage, he switched over to the mining industry and took employment in an exploration enterprise, M/S Viswakarma Enterprises, owned by Mr. K. K. Som at their Asansol, Ranigunj, and Dhanbad units in the Eastern Coal field. Mr. K. K. Som advised him to explore the possibilities if he could seek employment under M/S Hindustan Construction Company Ltd., where he could find better career prospects. However, within a year, he changed organization and took employment under M/S Mining Associate of Asansol, S. B. Gorai Road, Asansol, and took independent charge of a civil project under Chilla Hydro-electric power unit, Haridwar, for inspection gallery stabilization work. After completion of the Chilla site, he took charge of the Khodri Powerhouse site of M/S Mining Associates, Dak Pather, UP (now Uttarakhand). Here at Vikashnagar, he came across HCC officials and the agencies connected with HCC Ltd. On the insistence of HCC officials over there, he applied for employment under HCC Ltd. for their Salal hydroelectric power project at Salal. HCC Ltd. had taken prompt action for his interview under Mr. R.V. Datye Dy Chief (Mech) at the Salal site. On the recommendation of Mr. R.V. Datye, he got employment under HCC Ltd. for the Salal project site, and that was the beginning of his career in civil construction projects.

He took a deep interest in civil construction projects and compiled his rich experience during the execution of projects. It is hoped that his compilation will be very useful for those who came across such a situation in their fieldwork.

July, 2023Susmita Dey

Acknowledgments

I do acknowledge the moral support from Mr. K.L. Dhar in compiling my experience, and corrections advised during technical clarification of all critical issues which stood in our way during execution. He was heading five/six projects in different organizations of HCC Ltd., GIL, Afcons Infrastructures Ltd., Leroy Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd., AIMPL-BCC – JV, M/S Om Metals Infraprojects Ltd. and Pink City Expressway (Pvt) Ltd. where I was associated with him in project execution, including planning and budgeting etc.

Both, my daughter (Susmita Dey) and son-in-law (Palash Ghosh), have extended their support in editing and publishing the book. Without their support, I could not have been able to come up to the point of publishing. I am also ever thankful to Debopriya Ghosh (my granddaughter), who has helped me in editing my book and read through some of the chapters and also given her valuable comments. Also, special thanks to Tirthankar Bhowmick and Rittika Bhowmick (nephew and niece) for their support in typing my manuscript. Without their effort, it was almost impossible for me to come to the point of publishing my book. And lastly, I am immensely thankful to my wife (Kalpana Dey) and daughter, who had a vision about this compilation much before I started writing and have encouraged me to compile my valuable experiences over the year.

I thank many other well-wishers who have extended their support to me in reaching this point of publication.

July, 2023S. K. Dey

Foreword

I feel privileged to write a foreword note on the book written by Mr. Sajal Kumar Dey (S K Dey) in which he tried to show how he earned a name during his working in the construction industry for more than 35 years.

I am sure his book will be an eye opener (Prerna) to the young generation whoever happens to be working in this field.

In four of my projects under HCC Ltd, Pink City Expressway (Pvt) Ltd, and Gammon (India) Ltd respectively he exhibited his skills in bringing about total improvements of plants and equipment operation and maintenance systems for optimum availability to boost up the progress of work.

Due to his efficient handling of equipment section Kurichu HEP project could make record progress within the shortest period of time. One of the turbines could have been made operational to produce power within 14 months of the construction period here in this project! It was the shortest period for a hydropower project to produce power!!

In another project of HCC Ltd under USB Railway link at lower Munda, J&K state, he could make 55-meter shaft driving successful with 500 mm shot Crete lining for entering into the main tunnel of 11 KM length earlier than their counterpart. Railway authority awarded the contract of 11 KM railway tunnel to HCC Ltd as a pre-condition laid to both of the companies for this particular job!

In a road job under Pink City Expressway (Pvt) Ltd between Manesar, Haryana, and Pink City, so-called Jaipur, Rajasthan he brought about total improvement in steam curing of precast girder to shorten curing time. Crushing plant productivity increased sufficiently to meet the branch requirement of aggregate due to his efficient handling!

In Holi – Bajoli HEP Project of Gammon (India) Ltd, he modified plants for bringing about total improvement in fractional quality and quantity and also included Sanders for increasing crusher dust percentage.

Everywhere he utilized his rich experience in sorting out problems and ensured sustained improvement.

I wish him good health and all success in his stride.

(K L DHAR)

July, 2023.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Disclaimer

Preface

About the author

Acknowledgments

Foreword

M/S Viswakarma Enterprises, Mining Associates in Asansol

HCC Ltd. at Salal Hydroelectric Project

Chandil Dam, Bihar

Varanasi Bridge Project

Chennai Port Authority at Ennore

Kurichu H E P Project, East Bhutan

Bandra -Worli Sea Link Project, Mumbai

Purulia Pumped Storage, West Bengal

Icha Dam Works, Jharkhand

Banihal Railway Tunnel Project, Jammu & Kashmir

Railway Bridge on Chenab River, Reasi - M/S Afcons Infra Ltd.

URI-(II) Salamabad – HCC Pvt Ltd.

Teestha Hydel Project, East Sikkim (Mamring & Tar Khola)

M/S Pink City Expressway Pvt. Ltd., Jaipur

M/S Leroy Infrastructures (P) Ltd., Imphal

M/S. AIMPL- BCC (JV), Kashmir

M/S Simplex Infrastructures Ltd. - Bhasmey HE Project, Sikkim

M/S GMR Ltd. — Holi-Bajoli, Himachal Pradesh

Isarda Dam, Rajasthan

M/S Om Metals Infraprojects Ltd. Kameng H.E.P., Arunachal Pradesh

Tunnelling on NH-21 in the Section – PANDOH –  TAKOLI Under NHAI in Himachal Pradesh

Glossary

M/S Viswakarma Enterprises, Mining Associates in Asansol

In March 1977, I joined M/S Viswakarma Enterprises Calcutta and was stationed at Asansol to look after their coal seam exploration works in Eastern coal fields at Ranigunj, Asansol, Dishergarh, Govindpur, Nirsha, Dhanbad, etc. During my service period in Viswakarma Enterprises, Mr. K. K. Som, proprietor, advised me to join Hindustan Construction Company Ltd. if I get a chance; it is the best organization in the Indian sub-continent as a constructor, contractor, engineer, and planner, etc. Once I am in their cadre role, I will be recognized by all construction majors in India.

However, in the year 1979, I switched over to Mining Associates, S.B Gorai Road, Asansol; they had also been working in the Eastern Coal field for coal seam exploration. But I was associated with their CASA project in the Bankura district for water supply; from there, I was transferred to the Chilla Hydroelectric project under the UP Irrigation Department. Henceforth, I started my association with the construction Industry.

Chilla Powerhouse

My first job was at Chilla Powerhouse. It was the stabilization work in the gallery by drilling and grouting through inspection galleries. Seepage of water through the foundation increased much beyond the safe limit when the powerhouse was charged & generation started. Hence it became extremely necessary for the department to stabilize the foundation rock by drilling and grouting and to bring down seepage to the safe limit on top priority. Otherwise the whole structure might get damaged by excessive seepage. It was a new experience for me because I had never handled this type of problem earlier in my service period. Working in a gallery – 1500*2100 mm was a tough job due to the confined space. There was a running drain along the upstream wall of the gallery; drilling & grouting were conducted in the pattern of primary, secondary, and tertiary. This was a civil engineering job, but I was associated because it was basically a mechanized project, and I was working as project-in-charge on behalf of M/S Mining associates.

Before starting drilling & grouting activities in the Retaining wall gallery, three holes – GH/125, 88, and 49 were core drilled to study the sub-surface geology of the foundation base. In the bypass gallery, B/10 and B/18 were core drilled to the depth of 30m & 25m, respectively. B/18-hole was meant for the installation of piezometer; all other holes were drilled up to 22.00m for sand drains. In the retaining wall gallery, drilling and grouting were conducted in the sequences primary, secondary, and tertiary. After completion of drilling & grouting over there, drainage holes were drilled in the same gallery downstream of grout holes, and all drain holes were filled with graded sand for smooth seepage without erosion.

The effect of drilling & grouting was extremely satisfactory. Before drilling & grouting, the gallery had been found flooded with slushy seepage water. Gallery floor was found to be splashy, but after the completion of drilling & grouting and the formation of regular drainage system, the whole gallery was found to have dry & clean floor.

The whole job was completed within ten months by working day and night wholeheartedly and seriously.

I could attain new experience from this job and the concerned department was extremely happy with our work.

This project was started by Mr. R K Gupta as project-in-charge of M/S Mining Associates. But he couldn’t organize the work in a proper way to take out work from subordinates; the major drawback was a lack of deep-rooted involvement in work and an inability to form a team of workers. It resulted in the loss of work progress and created annoyance of the client. Under pressure from the client, the company was compelled to transfer me to overview the situations and act accordingly. So I was not on a smooth ride from day one; departmental bosses were sitting on my head to have some taste of improvement in work progress after my inclusion in the team of M/S Mining Associates.

I was also not comfortable with my lack of fluency in Hindi because the people around me were all Hindi speakers. Moreover, Mr. Gupta was not happy with my inclusion in his team. He started humiliating me for my poor Hindi knowledge. I did not react to it. On the contrary, I started giving more time at the work site to find out the reasons for poor work progress. And gradually, I tried to fulfill the site requirements promptly so that nobody could get scope for putting forward lame excuses which could have hampered the achievement of expected progress. The close attention from my end started showing improvement in work progress, which could draw the satisfaction of departmental bosses. They started advocating Mr. RB Bansal, Managing Partner for providing me all the necessary support. Mr. Gupta was avoided by departmental bosses; hence it was not a happy ending for him, and he took a transfer to Delhi. I made it a practice to spend a major part of my daily routine time at the site only to expedite work progress and to gain the confidence of departmental bosses. It created a positive impact on workers’ involvement in work and the satisfaction of clients resulting in an increase in work progress and billing. As I could ride on the situation and achieve the target, so everything went easy and complaints from the clients for non-performance had abolished. Mr. Ramesh Bansal joined me after Mr. Gupta; he was supposed to assist me. Initially, I was leading a bachelor’s life, though I was provided with a family quarter. After six/seven months, my family reached Chilla Colony and started living with me. Family life was not that good or bad, I should say. It was not so comfortable; we had a kid, 2 years old at that time.

Khodri Powerhouse

At the end of the Chilla project, I could secure another job at Khodri Powerhouse upstream of Dak Pathar Barrage in U P state, bordering Himachal Pradesh. Basically, Khodri Powerhouse stationed in the state of Himachal Pradesh, connected by Dak Pathar Barrage. The job was grouting around the surge shaft bottom through the gallery, making drainage holes upward and filling those drainage holes with graded sand and gravel for smooth drainage. Making drainage holes on the hill slope portion of the surge shaft. This job was completed within one and a half years. Drilling and grouting work was smooth, but filling drainage holes with graded sand and gravel less than 5mm was a tough job. The mix of sand and gravel was pumped with water pressure by a Craelius pump (positive displacement); gravel + sand deposit formed in the casing & drill hole, and water trickled down through the perforated cap on the casing pipe. Gravel & sand pumping was tough enough; gravel + sand feed would be carried away by a vacuum created at the funnel & 4" P pipe connection point. Slow & regulated feed was needed for filling the casing pipe & hole with sand & gravel. It was a highly expensive job, and we had to lose an appreciable amount in making this job successful; it was done only for the company’s image in front of the client.

This prestigious job did award us with another contract of foundation exploration work on the Beas basin.

Here in this project, I moved with my family from the Chilla Powerhouse project to Khodri Project and stayed in the project camp built by the previous contractor.

During the pumping of sand & gravel, back pressure was experienced when there was a blockage in a 2" pipe; and we had to stop the operation to clear the blockage. I had to stand on the job to ensure controlled operation. When I look back after so many years, I don’t feel ashamed to confess that I also maintained a doubt about 100% success in this system of operation. But there was no lack of confidence in completing the job. Nowadays, in the age of software technology, we could have assessed the percentage of successful operations, but in those days, we didn’t have that facility available for assessing our success.

During this period at the Khodri project, I came across Mr. Chunni Lal Handa, who requested me time and again to apply for employment in Hindustan Construction Company Ltd. because, according to Mr. Handa, HCC needed a person like me very badly for their Salal Hydro-electric project because they had been suffering worst for maintaining drilling and grouting progress up to the mark. Due to this hardship, regular progress was getting hampered. No such engineer was available with them who could withstand pressure to maintain drilling and grouting progress up to the desired level. Mr. K.G.K Pillai was unable to maintain progress due to frequent breakdowns of rigs & pumps. Excessive downtime of equipment had compelled them to source a new person who could take the challenge. I took more than two weeks to put forward my application to Mr. Talati, Chief Engineer, HCC Ltd., Mumbai; I received a call letter within twelve days of posting the application. I did attend the interview at HCC, Salal Hydroelectric Project at Pavanpuram (HCC Camp). Mr. R.V Datye, Deputy Chief engineer (plant & equipment), took my interview. After the interview he asked me about my expectation, and finally, he took my assurance about switching over to HCC, Salal. And he kindly recommended my case for immediate employment. Within a week, I got my appointment letter. Immediately I sent a fax message to extend my joining up to 15/10/1982. It was granted by the HCC HR department.

In Mining Associates, I was comfortable, and I did not have any hurdle. But the thing was that Mining Associates is a new and private organization, and the standard system was not practiced. Hence future of an individual was not safe. As it was a proprietary organization, standard facilities were not extended to employees, whereas HCC is a corporate sector extending all facilities to employees, the largest in the Indian Construction industry, and maintained a large contingent of talented and experienced engineers. Hence I decided to switch over to HCC Ltd., keeping in my mind the future prospects and valuable advice of Mr. K. K. Som for joining HCC if I would get a chance to do so.

I joined duties at HCC, Salal, on 14/10/1982, directly with my family. At the time of the interview, I put forward a request to Mr. R V Datye that I would be comfortable to join early if I could get family accommodation because I was staying with family at Dak Pathar. He (Mr. Datye) readily agreed on this point, looking into urgency at the site.

HCC Ltd. at Salal Hydroelectric Project

Since 14/10/1982, I started my career with HCC Ltd. at Salal Hydroelectric Project. On the 1st day of joining a rough weather was created for the family because I reported with my family; HR & Admin people were very annoyed with me. However, Mr. R V Datye gave me all supports. He ordered Admin people to unlock one quarter that was under lock and key for a long time and to make it ready for me by evening time. He (Mr. Datye) kindly provided his vehicle for bringing my family from Reasi town to Salal camp. The first day’s experience was quite embarrassing! That day I was introduced to PM Mr. M G Desmukh, Mr. T B Roy, and other important personnel in the main office complex. For the rest of the day, I was busy with my family arranging essentials from Reasi market and camp market. I had already started feeling uneasy because until 14/10/1982, I was the project head of a company, and I needed not to worry about taking permission from anybody for anything. But here at HCC, I was just an assistant engineer(mech). There were hundreds of stalwarts in this branch of HCC alone. Therefore I needed to take permission/approval for any damn thing. I started feeling bad for becoming a subordinate to somebody else. It was quite genuine. I tried to calm and console myself for the present situation leaving aside the earlier setup. Now I would be working for survival and future growth. I did start from zero; I had to face odds that would pain me like anything. I must brush aside everything, only to stride religiously for work to focus my ability in the field assigned to me.

On the 2nd day, i.e., 15/10/1982 I was taken to project site and introduced to all sectional heads over there. I was instructed to go around the site and experience the activities at different locations. It was not that I could not understand the activities in and around me. After two days, I was given the charge of repair and maintenance of all wagon drills, grout pumps, water supply systems at different sites, dewatering pumps, and grouting accessories. Mr. Dutta would assist me for the timebeing till I would be able to handle it independently. Mr. K G K Pillai was solely in charge of drilling and grouting. He was highly recognized by all the big bosses in HCC. I was supposed to give him the necessary support by repairing & maintaining all equipment for un-interrupted work progress. Among the mechanical team I was neither a mechanical engineer nor a civil engineer for civil section.

However, I forgot all previous assignments, pomp and powers. I only started my new career for a win at any cost because I had no other option. In earlier days I lost so many things during my business period of life. I lost our property at Barabamunia, Guma to United Commercial Bank Ashokenagar; a very important part of my life was damaged due to involvement with a married lady of neighborhood, and afterwards my marriage in a family against our family consent. Therefore I had to establish myself for my family and the innocent kid who was only one and a half years old at that time.

Mr. Viswambaram and D K Majhi were mechanical big shots at the Salal project of HCC Ltd. They used to come to my office at lunch period. Another Mr. Kanai Majumder advised me to work on my own style, without getting afraid of anybody if, on the right track. Nobody was there to give support at the time of crisis. Everybody would try to find fault only instead of giving some moral support.

The Salal Hydro-electric project was a big one for HCC Ltd. and our country. The installed capacity was 690 M-watt when 6 units would be in full-swing operation. HCC Ltd. was responsible for the construction of Dam with 26 blocks of 102 meter height along with a rock-fill dam to divert the river course towards the dam. TRG was undertaking construction of penstock. Powerhouse excavation was done by TRG and construction was undertaken by HCC. It was a leftover project by J.P. construction Ltd. in the course of excavation. There was a rumor prevailing in the locality that J.P. Construction acquired a huge property in the form of gold or other valuable material from the running tunnel connecting Dhyangarh with the main part. Dhyan Singh was a notorious dacoit in the area; he used to store all valuables inside the running tunnel. Incidentally, that tunnel came under dam body excavation. There was a possibility that still some more valuables might be available in the tunnel on the Dhyangarh end. (This information is based on local rumor only; writer may not be responsible for authenticity).

On my inclusion into the HCC team, some slow improvement could be experienced in drilling and grouting activities. The downtime of equipment started getting shortened due to continuous monitoring. But people over there were not ready to recognize me for gradual improvement. I did not have any grievance about it. I used to keep myself as an individual working only for survival and personal satisfaction. Big bosses started feeling my presence in their team at the upper level. We have had an experience of achieving the highest progress of 525 meters of drilling progress in 24 hrs and we had been congratulated through Mr KGK Pillai. The winter season of 1982 has started setting in after 25th December, severeness at work site had started increasing daily. We were used to it because we passed our winter season in Vikashnagar, Dakpathar, and the Kodri powerhouse area during my service period with Mining Associates. By the end of January of 1983 dam site had been washed away due to flash flood. As a result, dam site activity came to stand still for a few days. During those days I was asked to work in the workshop area – looking into the water supply system, pipeline layout, and workshop activity. The water supply system was developed by river lifting in three stages from the Chenab river. De-silting arrangement was established for cleaning of raw water in siltation chambers. Clean water was chlorinated by injection process before supplying to camp. Storage developed in overhead tanks – 10*5*1.5m at four locations. During the winter season, water supply disruption had to be experienced several times due to flash floods, landslides and pipeline damage in the river lifting system.

At Dhyangarh, workers’ camps were established, and water supply problems were also experienced. I had to attend those camps for water supply problem; for Dhyangarh water supply was organized from spring water collection across hills through hanging pipeline between hills; this was a normal practice in hill tracks .

December 25th and new year’s party 1983 were organized grandly by company in the conference hall. But we were not that much comfortable that year as I was a newcomer. We had to put forward our steps in a new setup to get acquainted with people. We had to differentiate between ‘do’s and ‘don’t’s cautiously because we already knew that some 79 (seventy-nine) engineers had left the company on different issues. We were in the mood to study people, whoever came across to advice us or make friends. I had already encountered a court notice from the previous company and replied in detail to justify my leaving their organization which did not have future protection for an employee. I thought I should have taken second chance of changing organization. Come what may, I did have to look into my own interest, I was not in the mood to challenge anything before I gained my ground.

After flash flood damages, dam site activities suffered for a few days. Then it started again gaining ground. All-out efforts were applied by all concerned to mobilize all essentials for a full-proof start-up. Each individual began to gain ground of their respective activities after repairing all damages and replacing unusable material. Within seventy-two hours of stride, normal working started by 1st week of February 1983. Everybody was in a hurry to fulfill their commitments, adding fuel to fast progress. Already we had to suffer a loss of some part of production incentives due to flood damages in January 1983. A system was introduced to pay incentives for excess progress above 1400 cum/day. During this period in March 1983, we could achieve progress of 525 meters of drilling in a single day which has been an all-India record for HCC up to this date. There was a craze among the ladies for enquiring about progress in the early morning hours because they used to know their daily gain of male partners in the process.

Salal dam works had to pour a huge quantity of concrete in dam body, powerhouse, and apron portion; HCC did pour 1600000.00 cum up to the completion of the project in 12 years since 1976.

Execution of Salal Hydro-electric was a challenge for both NHPC and HCC because there was a scarcity of trained workers, technicians and engineers in Kashmir valley. Thus, workers had to be hired from the plain. But people from plain were not ready to stay during the winter season – December to April period of the year. Due to these reasons, projects were getting delayed. Hence HCC had to introduce an incentive scheme. It had appeared as a boon to both employees and the employer. Employees were getting benefits due to more progress, and HCC was getting good progress; it gave name and fame to the company.

Due to the huge water demand at the site, the supply system was unable to cope. Over and above water supply was getting dislodged due to the airlock in the line, particularly in the ‘u’ – shape portion. It started hampering work in the night shifts because the night shift pump operators were not operating sincerely and religiously which caused drying up of supply line and airlock.

Things were moving smoothly, but one fine morning, I had to face bad weather from Mr Khandekar, EIC, for loss of progress in one of the blocks due to the non-functioning of sludge pump. I wished good morning to Mr Khandekar. In reply, he fired me for the breakdown of sludge pump in front of PM Mr. M. G. Deshmukh. I told him that the pump was in working condition at night and was working from the start of the morning shift this day. Mr. Deshmukh advised me to look into the project need, and see that work progress might not be affected at the end of the day. Everybody was keeping an eye on progress on a daily basis.

During July and August, temperatures soar to 45 C to 48 C; people might experience heat stroke due to the scorching sun. And I also suffered sunstroke. It was probably the end of July 1983. That day I was standing on block-4 right from morning 8:30 am so that block anchoring work did not get affected by any types of breakdowns of drill rigs, etc. I did not leave the block until lunch break though I was thirsty. And, no arrangements were available for supply of drinking water. After I returned to the site office, I started feeling uneasy due to the burning effect in the urine system all along! I returned to camp, and I was feeling worst due to the burning effect during urination, a trace of blood was found in urine. Dr Agarwal was called to check me and he confirmed that I got affected by sunstroke. He advised complete rest and taking medicine to relieve sunstroke effects. It took me nine days till I resumed duties. Mr. M. G. Deshmukh came to my office at block-10 (bucket portion) and enquired about my health. He advised me not to come out in the sun for a few days and carry a water bottle with me wherever I would go to blocks at the upper level so that I would not get affected by sunstroke again.

We were supposed to maintain a standard production level to achieve the set target; we were not required to rush to the main office to collect salary/wage. In those days, cash payment had been distributed, bank account facility was not introduced in full swing. So we were paid in cash. Readymade packages were distributed at the site by EIC/Concrete-in-charge, Mr. Ahirkar. He used to distribute in person. Hence nobody could get scope of complaining for missing delivery.

Gradually days passed on smoothly, the progress of work was very good to mention. Viswakarma puja was lavishly celebrated at the Pavanpuram workshop. The celebration of Durga Puja festival was done in a big way. Project manager Mr. M. G. Deshmukh took an interest in celebration. His family also was solely involved in the celebration. Bijaya Dashami (Dussehra) procession was a grand show; 28 vehicles, car and buses were engaged in the procession. Durga Pratima (idol) was immersed in Chenab, at the Talwara quarry area beyond the crushing plant area. Everybody enjoyed the procession wholeheartedly. According to my knowledge, no other organization in India celebrates the Durga puja in such a grand way.

In between, HCC got another project in the state of Bihar (now Jharkhand) near Jamshedpur on the river Subarnarekha. This was a dam project for irrigation purposes aided by World Bank. Mr. K.G.K. Pillai was not comfortable with my presence. He recommended my name for the Chandil dam when there was a requirement of drilling and grouting In-charge for the Chandil project. I was totally in the dark about my transfer. One fine morning I came to know in shift bus, of course after two/three days, I was issued a transfer letter. After I received it, I requested PM to allow me one week’s leave to enjoy Srinagar trip because I was 300km away from Srinagar at the Salal project. If I did go back to Chandil I would not get a chance for enjoying Srinagar trip. He did not allow me showing urgency at the Chandil project. On the contrary he advised me to enjoy Srinagar trip from Chandil, which was a foolish decision, so to say intentional attitude to harass a new entrant. He did not exercise his good wishes to the newly appointed. This was one of the drawbacks of himself. There was a time from 1 April 1983, when the the project work was suspended for twenty days due to local agitation. During this period, PM did not allow anybody to leave camp; nobody was allowed to go to Jammu for personal needs. It can be assumed how bad youngsters felt by keeping themselves confined for twenty long days. Even local employees residing in our camp, were not allowed to leave station during the said period. And employees also could not afford to vacate camp out of fear from losing the job. The project manager could exercise power of sacking any employee if it was found that the performance of any individual was not up to the mark.

Now I was relieved from Salal Hydro-electric project by the end of October 1983. A farewell party was thrown in my honor. PM appreciated my presence in the project and recognized my performance in gearing up smoothness in drilling and grouting section by maintaining equipment well to cope with project demands. He also mentioned that an experienced engineer of my level was badly required at Chandil Dam works. The client was very much disturbed with our present Chandil team, due to their inexperience to tackle the problem in the drilling and grouting section and cut of trench works was getting delayed for drilling and grouting. I paid homage to PM for his recognizing me for my performance. I thanked everybody for their cooperation during my one year at Salal project.

Chandil Dam, Bihar

On 30/10/1983, I left the Salal project for Chandil. I had to go to my native place at Kolkata for leaving my family there because transfer order clearly mentioned that individual needed to report alone initially till some arrangement for family quarter is done.

I reported to Chandil Dam works in the first week of November 1983. I completed one year on the HCC project and had gained some rough experience about civil engineering project, and HCC working style. I could understand that I would be facing hurdles wherever I would go; hence I needed to make myself ready to face odds wherever I went. My first problem was that I was not recognized as a mechanical engineer in the team of engineers because I had a background in dealing with drilling and grouting equipment. I tried to get used to it and acquire experience in all types of earth moving and all other construction equipment. I aimed to gain experience in crushing plants, batching plants, etc. My aim was not to capture the top position of a project's mechanical setup; my present intention was to make myself as strong as required in the HCC team.

I reported in November 1983, whereas project activity started in May 1983 with a small team. Initially, they were housed at the client’s camp near the project site, but when I joined there in November 83, I was housed in a company mess at the Chandil site on the left bank of the Subarnarekha river.

On the same day I met Mr. S. N. Chowdhuri project manager, he introduced me to all present in his office. I was sent to Mr. S. C. Saxena, P.M.E’s office. Mr. Chowdhuri explained me the reason behind my transfer on priority basis, because project was suffering worst in C.O.T (cut of trench) progress. C.O.T needed to be grouted for rock-consolidation. Consolidation grouting before starting of earth fill was the basic requirement of the project. Client was very much after us for completion of grouting work, our team was not able to progress in drilling and grouting. They were unable to convince department about grouting process. Due to fissures in rock, grout pressure started to fall apart after few minutes of intake. Departmental officers/engineers stopped activities citing the example of inexperience of available team and team head. As a convention of consolidation process, when leakage start from a grouting hole and pressure falls suddenly, we need to pump thicker grout into that hole and observe result; if pressure increases in the process, grouting should be continued as usual. If no improvement is observed, we need to stop grouting in that hole and surroundings. After at least 4hrs of stoppage we need to wash the same hole under pressure and start grouting in that hole. Grouting process will show improvement under pressure and grouting will be continued up to refusal stage. This was practiced repeatedly till improvement in grouting observed. Client’s representatives started understanding the process and they were shown the guidelines given in ISI standard about consolidation grouting. Improvement started in COT grouting activities. Departmental interference stopped and work progress had picked up. If my presence was found at site; they did not raise any points which could hamper work progress. It took me about two weeks to draw attention of client on our ability to achieve grouting progress in COT. I was recognized by client as a sound man of their aspiration and started giving weightage to my commitments. From then on COT activities had started picking up very smoothly. By end of December 1983, earth fill in COT could be started; with filling grouting activities continued up to ground level parallelly. Some area in slopes were shotcrete in dry process. As shotcrete activity was unknown to us, we had to face thousands of odds in completing small stretch. Now-a-days the area shotcrete in Chandil Dam C.O.T could have been completed within one shift strides. Now acute problems had eased out, things started moving smoothly. I was not required to stand tight at C.O.T.

Now I shared the responsibility of dewatering the river (Subarnarekha) basin with Mr. Abdul Salam, master foreman (mechanical), and C.O.T works. Installation of dewatering pumps at different location of the dam site river basin and laying dewatering pipelines in stages of excavation in the dam site area. 14-inch main line pipe was laid to receive delivery of all dewatering pumps located at different points. The 14" pipeline would work as a header line to lead water downstream of the working area. After a week or so, blasting activity started at the river bed on both river banks. I started recording life cycle of drill steels in compact sandstone, granite & quartzite. After two months of data collection on selected drill, steels property numbered, and three grinds on each drill bit, a line of about 280 meters was achieved. Some two other sets were taken for cross-check and results were around 280 meters or so. When C.O.T. activity stabilized and site dewatering regularized and streamlined, I was given the responsibility of laying pipeline of water supply, air supply line of compressor station up to dam site, 120cum batching plant on right bank, crushing plant, and water supply to overhead storage tank on right bank hill slope, from river source to downstream storage tank with de-silting chamber. From this storage tank with a desilting chamber, water was pumped to the overhead tank to facilitate gravity feed in the dam site area.

My role widened in Chandil dam after completing one year of service in the HCC project. But people were uncomfortable with me and some other partners who had been transferred alone like me. Chandil dam works was provided with a total manpower set of Teesta barrage right from coolie to top brush. Only some few were exception like me. I was transferred from Salal Dam works, Mr. Bhowmik was lifted from some other branch for crushing plant. In mechanical section, Mr. S. C. Saxena was heading the department at branch level, next to him was Mr. B. N. Banerjee — all Teesta team. Mr. Lalu Banerjee was deputy chief engineer (mech) from HCC corporate office. He was stationed here because he was not willing to sit at H.O regularly.

After completion of pipeline work, I was placed in shifts along with Mr. Bhowmik D.C. when dam site excavation started in full swing. Some young engineers could be placed in shifts, but they were not. On the contrary, we were placed in shifts to which I objected. When I was placed in shifts,

Mr. Sen Sharma was the acting project manager in the absence of Mr. S.C. Chowdhury. Mr. Sen Sharma was not ready to listen to my arguments. He told in reply that I needed not to do extra duty, only to adhere to shift duties. I had to accept it and started shift duties. We were required to maintain a shift register describing difficult activities encountered to complete programs allotted to shifts, if any of the item not attended, reasons for noncompliance and difficulties faced during execution. Suggestion and instruction were recommended for next shift with a request to section-in-charge to extend support to shift in-charges for site activity improvements. Mr. B. N. Banerjee was responsible for listening to us and extending support. Both of us (I & Mr. Bhowmik D.C.) were not comfortable because his approach was not up to the mark for us. He was a man who always tried his superiority on us, for which we were not ready to entertain him. He was not of a level who could play a role as boss to us. He was bossed by his previous in charges, inherited from Teesta Barrage works, Mr. S.C. Saxena and Mr. Lalu Banerjee. Their decisions were always biased. Mr. Saxena and Banerjee would visit site at the end of day shift, and would pass on irritating comments on our uselessness at site.

I would mention here one such incident in my day shift at around 7pm. At that time one excavator was engaged to make channel on upstream of block-14 & 15 to divert seepage water through channel, but excavator operator was not able to make channel through, because one huge rock mass could not have been removed after repeated trial. I was also present there to find ways and means to clear the channel. At that moment Mr. Saxena & Banerjee came to that spot and after two/three minutes observation both of them started commenting on wasteful expenditures on excavator for long in making a channel. Mr. Saxena rode on excavator by replacing regular operator; he tried for half an hour, and failed to do anything out of it. He left machine, I asked Mr. Saxena to suggest next step. He left on me. On the face I told Mr. Banerjee to stop commenting on anybody’s working, without studying the facts and figures. Mr. Saxena & Banerjee left site immediately. This was the type of ill-behavior towards any individual who were not of their group, or not in line with them.

Their ill-treatment had gone high to invite replacement, of Mr. Saxena, could not manage team fairly and sincerely without any sort of alignment. Mr. D.K. Majhi was transferred from Salal dam works as a senior to Mr. Saxena. On his inclusion in the Chandil team of mechanical contingent, things had started moving in a direction that would show improvement in the future and avoid crisis management. After couple of days I was called in office and there was a discussion in front of Mr. Sen Sharma. They explained my necessity for other areas and advised me to withdraw from shift duty. I was adamant to stay in shifts, because I was quite comfortable in shifts. But both Mr. Saxena & Sen Sharma requested me to accept new assignment for project interest. At this instant, I immediately reminded Mr. Sen Sharma about my forecast of this necessity earlier. Anyway, I accepted general shift work for infrastructure development along with earthen dam mechanical set up.

My family was shifted to site camp when I was allotted new quarters in officer’s colony; it was done in February 1984. My kid was admitted in nursery at Chandil under Mrs Chawla who had taken pain to run an English medium school, particularly for outsiders working at Chandil Dam works. Otherwise the project officials and staffs would have been compelled to maintain another establishment at Jamshedpur town for their children for giving basic schooling to them. It was not affordable for employees of construction industry of whatever might be its size. Therefore Mrs. Chawla’s effort was a welcome bid for us, particularly.

I had been given to develop pipeline network for both banks of Subarnarekha. Right bank pipeline work including water supply to dam site on trestle way, batching plant, crushing plant, dam site excavation area, storage tanks at bottom for de-silting and cleaning of dirt and pumping to upper storage tank which would cater water supply for plants, dam site area of concrete blocks. Air supply line from compressor station to dam site blocks laid on trestle way, batching plant and downstream of dam site. Mr. D. K. Majhi issued instructions to me directly and monitored for progress, problems and requirements of future needs. Here also Mr. Banerjee and Saxena started interfering. During the trial run of compressed air setup, Mr. Banerjee commented that there was bad workmanship for leakages of joints at some places. Mr. D.K Majhi told Mr. Banerjee that there might be some problems in the new setup, but he should have not poked nose in the operation of other people. Mr. Saxena & Banerjee left the