CHAPTER – I
HISTORY OF CENTRAL P.W.D.
Ancient History
1.
The execution of public work has been an organized function of the State
from times immemorial in our country. Archaeological finds at Mohan jo daro
and Harappa have revealed to us the building traditions of India prevalent
3,000 years before the Christian Era. Houses with burnt brick construction
although without ornamentation, complete with drains, storeys, pipes,
verandahs, swimming pool and hot air baths scientific excavations at these
sites, establish that these townships supplied to their citizens in those days
comforts and luxuries not available anywhere in the world during those times.
2.
Kautilya’s Arthashastra, one of the immortal works on Government functions
and politics, written as early as 300 years before Christian Era, speaks of
Officers of the State in-charge of Finance, public works and royal
correspondence. According to this Shastra, duties of a King included
construction of reservoirs full with water – either perennial or draws from
other sources and providing sites, roads and other such necessary
requirements to these who constructed the reservoirs of their own accord. It is
stated there that –
“ Whoever stays away from any kind of co-operative construction shall send
his servants and bullocks to carry on his work and shall have a share in the
expenditure but no claims to profit.”
This system of nearly 2300 years old appears to have anticipated the
community projects ideas of those days. This ancient book contains details of
layouts of villages, townships, forts, width of roads, charlet roads, royal roads,
roads leading to Military stations, gardens, groves and forests, burial grounds,
etc., which remind us of the fact that ideas of modern town planning are not
really modern, as thought by us.
3.
The art of stone cutting and carving was well developed during the times of
Ashoka the Great. The Ashoka Pillars called moonlight were made of the
single blocks of sand-stone and were polished to appear like metallic columns.
These were 40' to 50' in height and at their tops were crowned with figures of
animals like the lion, the elephant and the bull. Some of these still stand today, which speak well of skilful art of our craftsmen of those days. The
dignified massive simplicity, extra-ordinary, precision, accuracy and spirited
realism of the Mauryan art of that period were praised by Mr. John Marshal
one of the great authorities on ancient history and archaeology. He described
Sarnath, the capital of Ashoka as “the product of the most art which the world
was congnizant in the third century the handwork of one who had generations
of artistic effort and experience behind him.” Another great authority on
ancient Indian History, Dr. Smith observed that the skill of the stonecutter
might be said to have attained perfection and accomplished tasks which would
perhaps be found beyond the powers of the 20th century. The fact that these
pillars had to be taken away from the quarries, fabricated, transported to
various places and erected in a single piece bears eloquent testimony to the
skill and resources of the knowledge of the stone cutters and engineers of the
Mauryan age. A Chinese pilgrim who came to India a thousand years after
these pillars were treated speaks of these stone buildings of Ashoka having
been erected by ‘spirit’. The accounts of another Chinese pilgrim, who came
to India in seventh century and lived for ten years in the University of Nalanda
has spoken highly of grandeur of this great temple of learning in ancient India.
It had an observatory and a large library in three buildings, 8 halls, and 300
rooms. The University of Nalanda in its conception and grandeur compares
favorably with best of our modern Universities and is a great tribute to the
engineers and artisans of those days.
4.
The tradition for constructional activities did not end with the Hindu period of
Indian History. The buildings constructed during the regime of Khilji Kings
and Slave King, Kutub-ud-din carried on this tradition, Kutub Minar at Delhi,
the foundations of which were laid in year 1231, its overwhelming strength
and its perfection, symmetry and ornamental show prove that we were capable
in the 13th century to built structures involving highly technical details, King
Feroz Tughlak had a passion for founding cities and in his life time build two
cities, Firozabad where modern Delhi now stands, and Jaunpur. He is also
credited with 845 Public Works. He had eminent Architects in those days in
the person of Malik Ghazi Shahana and Abdur Hakk. The plans of every
building were submitted to the Financial officer. The buildings put in by King
Feroz and virile and strong and very sincere in purpose.
Moghul Period and after
5.
The Moghul Kings maintained the tempo of building activities, in the shape of
well-designed townships, palaces and forts, and memorials. A contemporary
Englishman, Ralph Fitch, who visited Agra and Fatehpur Sikri Describes
these as “great cities either of them much greater than London.” Humayun’s
Tomb in Delhi which was completed in year 1569 is a building of exceptional
merit famous for its domes. King Akbar commenced the fortification of Agra
and Allahabad etc. and constructed many building of red stones at Agra. The
greatest architectural creation of Akbar is Fatehpur Sikri with nine gates. It is
famous for the building of red stone as well as for king Jehangir who was also
a patron of architecture and painting. His special taste in gardens was
exhibited in the perfection attained by the Moghul gardens of which Shalimar
Bagh in Kashmir is the one.
6.
King Shah Jehan needs specific mention in this respect. The new city at Delhi
known in these days as ‘Shahjehanbad’ was built by him during the years
1938-48 and became the Imperial Capital of the Moghul Empire after that.
The Red Fort at Delhi and Agra speak of the gigantic work undertaken by the
Moghul Kings. Their layout and luxurious services provided therein are a
proof of the efficiency of the engineering profession of those days. Taj Majal
at Agra build during 1632-53 by the King Shahajeham in memory of his
queen Mumtaz Mahal represents the architecture of those days at its best. This
has been acclaimed as a structure of an extreme beauty and has been described
as ‘a poem in marble.’
Maratha Empire
7.
The last two great Hindu Empires of India, the Vijayanagar Empire and the
Maratha Empire had also their glorious buildings traditions. The Maratha
capitals were well fortified. The Rajgadh, which was the Imperial capital for
16 years was a well planned city, well provided with tanks, ponds and
clusterns. Ganga Sagar and Kushavarta tanks are fairly large and remind us
again of Kuatilya’s Arthashastra that a capital must be provided with wells,
tanks and pools. It has been established that in building Rajgadh, the
Marathans followed the town planning ideas as laid down by Kautilya very
closely towards the end of 18th century and early 19th century. The logical
inference is that these conventional rules of town planning have been
transmitted from generation to generation in our country since centuries
before Christian Era.
8.
Same applied to the city of Vijaynagar, the capital of Vijayanagar Empire. It
had more than hundred thousand dwelling houses in it. The existing buildings
at Hampi, remains of Vithalaswamy temple, the town of Nangalpur (Hospet)
are the best examples of ornateness, and flowers of sculptured art patronized
by the Vijayanagar court.
9.
In the South, the great Pallavas, Cheras, Cholas and Pandya Kings carried on
the great artistic and building traditions in India. The rock cut temples of
Mahabalipuram (30 miles from Madras) the famous temples of Madurai,
Rameshwaram, Chidambaram and Tanjore bear testimony to the ancient
South Indian art of temple building. The acoustic arrangements provided for
Saraswati Majal Palace at Tanjore built by the ancient Tamil Kings go to
show that engineers at that time were fully conscious of such requirements.
10.
British Period
The east India Company which started as a trading concern in India had a
general civil service for attending to multifarious duties of administration
which verted in converted services. As a result of Industrial Revolution in
Europe in 18th Century, which affected the general conditions throughout the
world, the working of East India Company under went a close scrutiny and
criticism. The need for construction of roads, railways and irrigation works
etc. come to the forefront.
11.
While the works of construction of railways were given to different
companies, the public works like roads, buildings and irrigation were
entrusted to the charge of Military Boards in all the three Presidencies of
Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. These works were mostly of a military
character comprising of barracks and other buildings for troops and a few
military roads. This arrangement continued from year 1773 to 1858.
12.
In the year 1849, when the Punjab was also annexed by the British, a
Department for Public works was created. It was immediately entrusted with
the improvement of Grand Trunk Road to Peshawar including construction of
about 100 bridges on it and the construction of the Upper Doab Canal. The
roads from Kalka to Simla and Chini to Sutlej and the work of Upper Ganges
Canal were also completed by the year 1854. Although the construction of
these public works involved simple building work and roads etc. and nothing
of monumental type as left by the ancient history of the country was built by
the British Government of those days, a beginning with the Public Works
Department was made.
P.W.D. Secretariat
13. With the success of the Public Works Department in Punjab, as distinct from
the Military Boards, similar Departments were set up in Bengal, Madras and
Bombay in 1854. Each was placed under the charge of a Chief Engineer under
the Lt. Governor of the Province. To co-ordinate and have budgetary control
over the Provincial P.W.Ds, a Secretary of the Department of Public Works
was appointed in the Government of India for the first time in year 1854. He
was also vested with all powers of the Military Boards. The workload of the
Public Works throughout the country during the year 1850 was Rs. 60 lakhs,
which rose to Rs. 226 lakhs by the end of year 1854. Of this, nearly Rs. 100
lakhs were spent on communications including navigable canals, about Rs. 54
lakhs on irrigation, nearly Rs. 56, lakhs on military works, Rs. 3 lakhs on land
for railways and the rest on other miscellaneous works.
14. During the year 1863-66, the Department of Public Works in Government of
India was split in three separate branches to deal with Military works, Civil
and irrigation and railways works. These branches were placed under the
charge of an Under Secretary each in the Government of India in year 1867
and had an Inspector General of Works attached to each of them to coordinate the functions of each wing throughout the country. By year 1870, the
posts of Under Secretaries controlling these three Branches were upgraded to
those of Deputy Secretaries. In 1872, it was decided that the Branches dealing
with the Military Works should be transferred from the Secretariat to the
Military Department. Although this transfer was completed by year 1890,
Public Works in frntier towns in Baluchistan and Frontier Provinces were
continued to be carried out by the Military Engineering Department so as to
avoid dual work agencies in the places of strategic importance.
15. With the formation of Local Boards in Year 1872 such as District and
Municipal Boards, a number of works were transferred to these bodies. The
functions of the Government of India were then limited to laying down of the
policy and occasional local inspection of the large project works by the Public
Works Department Member or Secretary. The Public Works under the direct
supervision of the Government of India at that time comprised of Simla
Imperial Circle which was charged with looking after the Central Government
buildings at Simla. There was also a Division at Dehra Dun, which was
originally created for the construction of Forest Research Institute and Survey
of India Department and other Central Government Department building at
Dehra Dun.
Initial formation of Central P.W.D. at Delhi
16. On the proclamation of change of the Capital from Calcutta to Delhi in
December 1911, it became necessary to organize a Public Works Department
exclusively for building the new Capital. A committee of Experts was
appointed by the Secretary of State to advise the Government with regard to
the site of the new Capital and its layout. Sir Edvin Lutyens an eminent and
world famous Architect, was chosen to be the Architect and Designer of the
new capital city. After approval of the plans, the charge of execution of the
work was entrusted to Imperial Delhi Committee, which has Chief
Commissioner of Delhi as President and Chief Engineer as Engineer-Member.
The first estimate of Project as framed by them was for Rs. 1050 lakhs. It was
taken up for execution in December, 1913. The works of the Capital Project
were, however, held up consequent to First World War in 1914 and the tempo
slowed down. From 1914-15 to 1919-20, the expenditure varied between Rs.
39 to 54 lakhs per year. The tempo of the works increased in year 1920-21
onwards and the estimate was revised to Rs. 1307 lakhs.
17. The works of the Capital Project were in the charge of the Chief Engineer, a
Superintending Engineer (Civil), a Superintending Engineer ((Electrical &
Mechanical) and one Executive Engineer. The post of the Executive Engineer
was held by Shri Teja Singh Malik, who was later on conferred with the title
of Sardar Bahadur and also Knighted. Sardar Bahadur Sir Teja Singh Malik in
due course became the first Indian Chief Engineer of the Central P.W.D. The
Chief Engineer was under the Administrative control of the Chief
Commissioner, Delhi and later on became Secretary to him for the Project
Works. With gradual completion of the Capital Project Works, the Public
Works Organisation was transferred to the administrative control of
Department of Industries and Labour in Government of India. The Central
P.W.D. thus, came in existence on 1st April, 1930 to look after the vast office
and residential campus of the Central Secretariat and allied offices. The work
done on the Secretariat and Rashtrapati Bhavan speak in itself of the skilful
work of artisans of the country in this century.
Nineteen Forties
18. At that time, i.e. in year 1930, the Department had a cadre of only two
permanent Circle (Civil) i.e. Circle I and II and six Divisions for the works at
Delhi, Simla, Dehra Dun, Ajmer and Indore. With Development of Delhi, one
Superintending Engineer was appointed as Secretary to the Chief
Commissioner of Delhi for the Public Works Department. The Chief
Engineer, Central P.W.D., under the Department of Industries and Labour,
was also required to act as Technical Adviser to the Government of India in
respect of Central Government buildings and roads. Thereafter activities of
the Department extended for beyond Delhi and it was entrusted with the
execution of costly civil aviation works in Rangoon, Calcutta, Bombay,
Karachi, Lahore, Baluchitan and Persian Gulf. The Central P.W.D. had at time
Estate Office also under its control and it continued as such till 1944-45.
19. Consequent to separation of Sind and Orissa from Bombay and Bihar
Provinces respectively in year 1937, the new construction programme in these
two Provinces was entrusted to the charge of the Central P.W.D. It was further
required to advise with regard to the works of Independent Public Works
Organisation in Andamans, Persian Gulf, Coorg and other centrally
administered areas. Consequent to the above, the workload during the year
1935-36 onwards rose to Rs. 121 lakhs, with resultant increase in the number
of Circles and Division from 2 and 6 to 4 and 18 respectively.
20. Apart from the Public Works as mentioned above entrusted to the charge of
Central P.W.D., it was required to carry out the construction works of
Eccenesiastied Archaeological, Posts and Telegraphs and Indian National
Airways and other such Organisations as ‘Depot Works’. Gradually by the
end of year 1940 the Central P.W.D. was entrusted with all the centrally
financed civil works.
21. The World War II brought heavy pressure of emergency works required for
defence purpose. The Units at Bombay, Calcutta and Madras were augmented
with creation of new circles for meeting with the demand of increased
workload. Immediately after declaration of war by Japanese in December
1941, the Central P.W.D. was called upon to ac-fields, accommodation of
army and communication services. Our activities during those days mostly
related to works of strategic importance scattered throughout four corners of
the country from Burma boarders to Baluchistan and Persian Gulf and
Kashmir to Cape Comorin. The workload increased to Rs. 2752 lakhs in year
1945 and the number of units increased to 2 Chief Engineers one at Delhi and
the other at Calcutta, 12 Circle and 70 Divisions. The Department acquired
itself creditably in the task entrusted to it and the various projects were
completed to the satisfaction of the authorities.