Ancient
History
1. The execution of public work has been an
organized function of the State from times immemorial in our country.
Archaeological finds a Mohan jodaro 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, and pipes. Verandahs, swimming pool and hot air baths and wide streets
as discovered consequent to the 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 woks 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 road, royal roads, roads leading to Military stations,
gardens, groves and forests, burial ground, 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 sandstone 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 to day, 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 Marshall one of the great authorities on ancient history and
archaeology. He described Sarnath, the
capital of Ashoka as “the product of the most developed 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 stone cutter 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 form the quarries, fabricated, transported to various places to the skill
and resources of the knowledge of the stonecutters 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 created 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 favourably with best 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 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 build structured 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 no
stands, and Jaunpur. He his also credited with 845 Public Works. he had eminent Architects in those days in the persons 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 are 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 buildings 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 Moghual 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 1638-48 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 Mahal at Agra build
during 1632-53 by the King Shahajehan 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 planned city, well provided with
tanks, ponds and clusterns. Ganga Sagar and Kushavarta tanks are fairly large
and remind us again of Kautilya’s Arthashastra that a Capital must be provided
with wells, tanks and pools. It has been established that in building Rajgadh,
the Marathas 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 Vijayanagar, the
capital of Vijayanagar Empire. It had more that 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 ornatensess, and flowers of sculptured art
patronized by the Vijayanar 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 Mahal Palace at
Tanjore built by the ancient Tamil Kings go to show that engineers at that time
were fully conscious of such requirements.
British Period
10. 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 vested in convented 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 underwent 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 top 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 Shimla and Chini
to Sutlej and the work of Upper Ganga Canal were
also completed by the year 1854. Although the construction of these public
works involved simple building works and roads etc. and nothing of Monumental types as left by the
ancient history of the country was built by 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 years 1863-66, the Department of public works in Government of India was
split in three separate branches to deal with Miltary 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 co-ordinate 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 frontier 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
lying 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 buildings at Dehra
Dun.
Initial formation of C. 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 organise a Public Works Department
exclusively for buildings 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 & Mechancial) and one
Executive Engineer. The post of Executive Engineer was held by Shri Teja Singh Malik, who was later on conferred with the title
of Sardar Bahadur and also Knighted.Sardar Bahaur, Shri Teja
in due course became the first Indian Chief Engineer of the CPWD. 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. CPWD 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, CPWD.,
under the Department of Industries and Labour, was also required to act as
Technical Advisor to the Government of India in respect of Central Government
buildings and roads. Thereafter activities of the Department extended far
beyond Delhi and it
was entrusted with the execution of costly civil aviation works in Rangoon, Calcutta, Bombay, Karachi, Lahore, Baluchistan and Persian
Gulf. The CPWD. 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
CPWD. 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 area. 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 Divisions from 2 to 6 to 4 and 18 respectively.
20. Apart from the Public Works as mentioned
above entrusted to the charge of CPWD., it was required to carry out the
construction works of Eccensiastied
Archaeological, posts & Telegraphs and Indian National
Airways and other such
Organisations as ‘Depot Works’. Gradually by the end of year 1940 the
CPWD was entrusted
with all the centrally Financed Civil works.
21. The World War II brought
heavy pressure of emergency works required for defense 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 CPWD. was called upon to
accelerate completion of the works on various airfields, 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 border 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 a Calcutta, 12
Circle and 70 Divisions. The Department acquired itself creditably in the task
entrusted to it and the various project were completed
to the satisfaction of the authorities.
|