Ancient History

1. The execution of public work has been an organized function of the state from time immemorial in our country. Archaeological findings at Mohanjo 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, 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 today, which speak well of skilful art of our craftsmen of those days. The dignified massive simplicity, extraordinary, 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 from the quarries, fabricated, transported to various places 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 created by 'spirit'. The accounts of another Chinese pilgrim, who came to India in 7th century and lived for 10 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 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 is 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 Sager 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 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 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 were 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 were 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 at 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.