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Building India
Food grain silos and housing
Food grain silos
After the hard area posting in NEFA of almost 4 years, the Engineer-in-Chief, Central P. W. D. wanted me to take over
another challenging job in January 1961.They wanted me to undertake the Planning, designing and construction of Food grain
storage for 7 million tons of wheat all over the country. This was to be done on war footing within a time-bound period of
three years, to tide over the food shortage the country was then facing.
I was posted as Superintending Surveyor of Works at Delhi under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and was entrusted
with full charge of the project and given all facilities to ensure that the target was completely achieved.
Because of the poor grain storage facilities then existing almost all over the country, India was losing close to 30%
of the food stored therein due to:
1.Rat and bandicoot menace
2.Insect infestation
3.Seepage of water from leaky roofs of badly constructed buildings.
I therefore decided on the construction of food storage buildings of the conventional design in interior areas but well-ventilated
and with special measures to prevent rats and bandicoots from getting in. These storage areas would be provided with a fully
assured water-tight roof.
The pattern of storage of bags of grain in stacks inside the building was also designed to permit spraying of the desired
insecticide on all the bags as often as necessary to keep the grain in good condition for long periods. The bags were also
placed on wooden platforms over the concrete floors so that the bottom bags did not come in contact with the floors and get
damaged.
In bigger towns, large buildings with concrete shell roof about 90 to 100 feet span were built, which apart from working
out cheaper in construction cost provided a much better storage for the grain, so airy and ventilated that they helped to
extend the life period of the grain.
In a number of villages, the grain after harvesting is stored in bulk in underground storages of mud walls. This gave
a comparatively longer grain life as it provides natural cooling as against storage above ground. These underground storages
in the villages however suffered from the rat and bandicoot menace and also damage due to incursion of moisture from ground
water.
Underground storage
Finding that underground storage had certain advantages, I designed a proper water proof underground grain storage,
rat proof and functional with arrangement for regular aeration to preserve the grain. These had been provided in a number
of interior centers and are reported to be functioning effectively.
The main problem of grain storage faced by the country was that due to good weather conditions during some years, there
was bumper crop while in some of the following years, the food production was low due to drought conditions. Government was
therefore keen that the storage should be such that the grain could be stored for at least 6 to 7 years without the quality
being affected. This meant adoption of modern techniques of mechanized handling and bulk storage arrangements as adopted
by the Western nations.
The Ministry therefore arranged a travel grant for me through USAID to visit countries of my choice to enable me to introduce
mechanized arrangement for bulk storage of wheat in India. I visited New York, Detroit, Chicago, Kansas, Dayton Ohio, Houston,
SanFrancisco, Los Angeles and Seattle in USA, Toronto and Vancouver in Canada, London, Birmingham and Liverpool in UK, Geneva
in Switzerland, Warsaw in Poland, Frankfurt in Germany and Copenhagen in Denmark where bulk wheat storage was provided in
Silos and all operations of handling, storing and preservation were mechanized, right from the time the wheat was brought
to the Storage area till the same is delivered back to the consumers.
Silos were therefore constructed by me at Delhi in steel containers received from USAID and concrete silos constructed
at the Kolkata dock using the latest techniques of slip forming using multiple jacks. The handling equipment and conveyor
arrangement were purchased from Switzerland and the thermal control equipment from USA. The process adopted at these silos
was to receive the wheat in bulk from farmers which was put straight into the weighing machines, taken to various silos through
conveyor belt and stored under controlled thermal conditions. The temperature was recorded at various depths in each of the
silos at regular intervals and in the event of the temperature rising at any particular spot beyond the permissible limit,
the whole wheat in that silo is aerated and recycled in a conveyor belt and stored back in the same silo. When a demand is
received from Food Corporation of India for taking delivery, the wheat from the silo is brought down through a conveyor belt
to the Bagging machine where they are bagged and handed over to the Food Corporation people for loading into trucks. The entire
operation is mechanized and untouched by hand which ensures that the quality of wheat is preserved and maintained for a period
of 6 to 7 years till it is drawn out. The entire project of construction of 7 million tons of grain storage was completed
by me within the stipulated period of 3 years which was well appreciated by the Government.
Managing Director,Hindustan Housing Factory
Just about that time in 1964, the Ministry of Works and Housing were having a problem with the Hindustan Housing Factory
(HHF) which was a Public Sector Undertaking under their control, in that the Factory was continually undergoing losses amounting
to about Rs. 60 lakhs a year and the workers were also constantly agitating. The Secretary of the Ministry sent for me and
said that the Ministry had decided to wind up the Factory and requested me whether I could help in doing it in a peaceful
manner as it involved termination of services of about 2500 workers in the Factory. Taking this request as a simple affair
and not knowing the past background of the Factory and the complications involved, I agreed to help.
I was then made the Managing Director of the Factory and I started planning out as to how this winding up of the Factory
could take place. On the first day of my visit to the Factory, I found that most of the workers were just idling and some
were stretched out on the ground sleeping. They were mostly from the Gujjar community, a criminal tribe. The Factory was not
in operation and no one was at work. The Order Book was empty and I realized that the blame could not be put on the workers
alone as they could not be expected to work when there were no orders to fulfill. It was no wonder that the Factory was undergoing
losses.
I therefore decided then and there that instead of working towards the winding up of the Factory, I should take action
to revive it. I started contacting all the Departmental heads of New Delhi Municipal Committee, Slum clearance Department
, Central P.W.D., Railways, Municipal Corporation, and Punjab and Rajasthan Electricity Boards and requested them to place
orders on HHF for their construction requirements which I assured them would be carried out within half the normal construction
period by using quality guaranteed Factory made prefabricated components and within their sanctioned costs. The Factory
had a fully equipped Pre-stressed Concrete department, Ordinary Reinforced Concrete Department, a Wood workshop with modern
carpentry equipment and a Light weight Foam concrete Department. With such a well equipped Factory, I was fully confident
that I would be able to tackle any construction orders relating to construction of prefabricated houses and commercial buildings,
bridges, street light poles, industrial buildings, Bus shelters, supply of Factory made doors, light weight components etc.
As a result of my Sales talk with the Departmental heads, I was able to procure such a lot of orders to fill my Order book..
Central PWD gave me construction of their Office buildings at Indraprastha estate, the Slum Clearance Department awarded
construction of 3000 slum houses, New Delhi Municipal Committee awarded the design and construction of the prestigious Indoor
stadium at Talkotra gardens which even now serves as the Stadium for holding Badminton and volley ball games of Asian and
National Games, Municipal Corporation awarded the construction of Foot bridges across roads and Bus shelters and Punjab and
Rajasthan Electricity Boards placed orders for almost all their requirements of Pre-stressed concrete Street light poles.
Railways were then wanting to introduce Pre-stressed concrete Railway sleepers in place of the wooden and mild steel sleepers
they were using on all their railway lines. Their Research Department RDSO in consultation with the HHF staff and workers
carried out a number of experiments with so many alternative designs and finally we arrived at a safe and a workable design
for the concrete railway sleepers. They were fully satisfied with the capability of the Pre-stressed concrete Department
of HHF to manufacture pre-stressed concrete railway sleepers that they decided to place orders with HHF for the maximum quantity
of sleepers that the Factory could handle and manufacture. With the Order book now more than full to cover 2 to 3 years of
Factory production, my next responsibility was to get the full cooperation of the workers to work to their maximum capacity
and complete the awarded works within the time schedule laid down and of the best quality to keep up the assurance that we
had given to the Departmental heads. at the time of placement of their orders. There were 7 Trade Unions among the 2500 workers
of different tints, like Communists, Congress, HMS etc. some of them led by M.Ps. I had to call their leaders to tell them
that I was posted to HHF to wind up the establishment but I had now taken a different stand to revive the Factory as I did
not wish to throw out such a large number of workers from employment causing hardship to them. I therefore wanted full cooperation
from them in working to their maximum capacity to complete the large number of orders that we had received from various Departments.
I told them that I was going to introduce an incentive scheme based on a hyperbolic curve which would give them higher benefits
if they work hard and produce more. I explained to them that their productivity level was just about 30% and if they increased
it to 50%, they would get almost 50% extra salary and if they achieve further higher productivity, they would get much larger
benefits Further, I was going to introduce a competition among the 4 Departments with regard to the productivity performance
which would give the workers of the best Department sizeable monetary awards. This excited all of them and they started working
with full vigour that enabled us to keep up to the promised targets. The very first year, we started making a profit of over
Rs. 15 lakhs instead of loss as in previous years. As in most of the undertakings, we had also some black sheep among the
workers who were trouble makers and coming from criminal back ground, they started creating dissensions among the workers
and they not only shirked working but were also inciting the others not to work. and were stirring up the workers to put
up unreasonable demands. I always treated my workers kindly and kept my doors open to listen to any one who had a grievance
but this uprising among the workers needed a very firm handling of the situation. I had a Vigilance Officer whose job was
to make frequent visits to the Factory and bring to my notice all cases of misconduct as laid down in the Disciplinary Rules
of the Company. A clear procedure for taking disciplinary action was also laid down in the Disciplinary Rules as approved
by the Labour Commissioner and as long as the procedure was strictly followed, even the courts could not interfere with the
final orders passed by the Managing Director on the disciplinary case. During the 7 years, I stayed in the Factory as Managing
Director, the Vigilance Officer had reported to me nearly 1000 cases of misconduct and indiscipline among the workers for
taking necessary disciplinary action against them as per Rules. After conducting Enquiry into the cases as laid down in the
Rules, I had passed orders dismissing from the services of the Factory all serious cases of misconduct.. Their appeals to
the courts had all been turned down as the correct procedure had been followed. in all cases. Their Trade Union Leaders however
took up these dismissals seriously and aggressively and came and represented the same to me but I had to take a firm stand
telling them that the workers had misconducted themselves badly and I had therefore no other option but to dismiss them. This
brought about some fear among the workers that I was one who did not tolerate any indiscipline or misconduct among them
but at the same time they had full respect for me as I always treated them kindly and fairly and as a friend to them. However,
such a large number of dismissals naturally brought a lot of discontentment among the workers and with their trade union
leaders to incite them, they one day decided to defy the normal shift arrangement that had been followed in the Factory for
years together. At 2 pm, the shift workers from inside come out of the Factory while the fresh workers get into the Factory
at that time. A time interval of 15 minutes is given for this shift change. On that particular day, the workers from inside
as well as those outside stayed on at the gate, having a Gate meeting led by one of the M.Ps, for more than the permissible
15 minutes. The Security Head at the gate informed me on phone that none of the workers had got in even though 15 minutes
had passed. I told him to close the gate and not to allow anyone in. The M.P. took about half an hour for the Gate meeting
after which he wanted the fresh workers to get into the Factory. The Security head however refused to let them in as per my
orders and the M.P. threatened him that he would get him dismissed if he did not allow the workers to enter immediately..
The Security however stood his ground and the M.P then called me on the phone, complaining against the Security Head saying
that he was not allowing the workers to get in. I had to tell him that he was following my orders not to allow anyone in after
the permissible 15 minutes. He then wanted to come over and see me in my office which I permitted. He came to my office
on the first floor where I was having a meeting with my officers and my peon refused to allow him in as he was not aware
of my permission to him to come over to my office. This tiff with my peon upset him a little more and he came in fully agitated,
threatening that if I did not allow the workers to get in, he would complain to my Minister and get me transferred out.
I just ignored him and did not even offer him a chair and told him bluntly on his face that this was my Factory and I would
not allow any interference from any outsider in the smooth running of the Factory. He rushed out in a rage and said that he
was going straight to the Minister. In the meantime, I rang up my Minister, Mr. Jagannath Rao and told him that this M.P.
had no business to come over to the Factory and threaten me and upset the working arrangement in the Factory and if he came
over to see him, he may be told never to go over to the Factory again.
Factory workers, even if they are working in a Public Sector Undertaking of the Government of India, are only entitled
to the scales of pay and other terms and conditions of appointment as fixed by the Board of Management of the Company and
not to the Government scales, as laid down under the Factory’s Act. During the years 1966 to 1968, the country
was going through a very difficult financial crisis with the inflation rate constantly on the rise. Almost every 3 months,
the Dearness allowance was being raised
by the Government for their employees. Though the Board of Management of HHF was also increasing the dearness allowance
of the workers to counteract the inflation, it was not matching the higher rise in dearness allowance as granted by Government
to its employees. The competitiveness of rates of HHF with those quoted by other construction agencies had also to be kept
in mind as otherwise it would not have been possible for HHF to get works in response to call of tenders and keep the Factory
going. The Trade Union leaders however got an excuse to incite the workers to agitate for Government scales of pay to be
given to them and not the Factory’s pay though they fully well knew that they were not entitled to Government scales.
They filed a case in the Labour court for grant of Government scales but this was turned down by the Labour Commissioner.
It so happened at that time that there was a change of Minister in the Ministry of Works and Housing which was in control
of the Public Sector Undertaking HHF.The new Minister, Mr. Inderjit Singh had just taken over charge and the workers of HHF
went on a deputation to him led by one of the Union leaders and put up their claim that they should be given Government scales
and not Factory’s scales. The Minister, without knowing the background of the case, told them that he would look
into their demand and promised them some action. The Minister thereafter sent for me and told me that the workers had gone
on a deputation to him and demanded Government scales of pay to be given to them and as he had just taken over charge, he
wanted to do something for them. I explained to the Minister the background of the case and told him that under the Factory’s
Act, they are only entitled to the scales of pay as fixed by the Board of Management of the Company .and therefore they cannot
have a claim for Government scales. I also informed him that the workers had gone to the Labour court which had turned down
their demand. The Minister then told me that what the workers were demanding was only Government money and not mine and so
why should I object to it. I told him clearly that the money was that of HHF and there was no way of paying Government scales
to the workers. This took him back by surprise and I was told that he sent for his Secretary and told him to get me transferred.
The Secretary had to tell him that I had been pressing for my transfer for quite some time as I had completed the normal
period of 2 years of posting in the Factory but the Ministry had not transferred him
as the Factory was doing extremely well under his leadership when the same was doing badly and was almost at the point
of closing down before his posting. The Minister, to vent his anger, then sent for Major General Harkirat Singh who was then
the Chairman of HHF. and requested him to grant the workers Government scales of pay. He also flatly refused and the only
thing what the Minister could do was to change the Chairmanship of HHF from Major General Harkirat Singh to Air Marshal Arjun
Singh..
Refusal by the Hindustan Housing Factory to grant Government scales of pay to the workers was a sore point to them. The
Trade Union Leaders took advantage of this and incited them to take a more violent action. The workers had therefore made
well in advance all preparations for a major attack on the Management of HHF by collecting a large quantity of bricks, bottles,
stones etc outside of the Factory premises and started their agitation on 15th June 1968 at about 2 pm when the first shift
workers also come out of the Factory. The Factory had about 30 security men at the gate, whom they attacked with sticks and
injured every one of them. They had then the full control of the Factory and the workers decided to attack me and the other
officers of the Factory by going over in full strength to my office building which was a two storeyed structure. My Ambassador
car was in the portico of the building just in front of the entrance to the first floor where I and my officers had our offices.
They could have easily entered the first floor straightaway and harmed every one of us but God had intervened at that time
and made them change their plan to concentrate first on setting fire to my car before proceeding to the first floor. Being
summer, the Factory had provided Khaskhas matting to all the windows of the Office building to keep the interior cool by pouring
water on the matting. The workers took out all the matting from the ground floor windows and heaped them on my car and set
fire to it. As the car was burning, all the workers started singing, dancing and enjoying themselves. At the right side of
the entrance to the first floor, we had the Central Air-conditioning plant in the ground floor and the gas in it caught fire
because of the intensity of the fire and started emitting thick smoke which covered the entrance to the first floor preventing
the workers from getting access into the first floor of the building. I tried to get the Police on the phone but it so happened
on that particular day there was a Muslim festival and the entire police force was engaged in their official duties. I however
managed to get hold of one of the Police stations located almost 25 kilometres away and requested them to send the police
force immediately as the workers were setting fire to the Factory buildings and were turning violent. I also managed to get
the Fire station on phone and asked them to send the Fire engines immediately to put out the fire in the Office building.
The Fire engines came but the workers would not allow the engines to come near the Factory by blocking all the approach roads
to the Factory. The workers then resorted to throwing stones and bricks at the first floor from all around the building, breaking
the glass panes of most of the windows. Some of my office staff were so frightened that they jumped from the first floor
to the ground hurting themselves. The smoke started rising to the first floor and almost fully covered the floor with thick
black smoke. We were all getting suffocated and were keeping ourselves alive by dipping our handkerchiefs in the water kept
for wetting the khaskhas matting and covering our nose. This is when God stepped in again. The Police from the far off police
station arrived just in time and the workers ran away when they saw the police. The Police, when they saw the building covered
with smoke and was almost catching fire, thought that all of us would have been dead by then. The police however made a round
of the office building and to their surprise, they saw a circular staircase at the rear of the building. They came up the
stairs and knocked at the door. We were all near that door gasping for breath and if there had been a delay of even 5 minutes
most of us would have died of suffocation. We answered the police that we were all alive and opened the door and came out.
If this is not God’s providential intervention, how else can one explain our escape from sure death from the hands
of about 2500 workers with criminal back ground.
While this worker’s violent agitation was on at the Factory, some one rang up Mabel and told her that the workers
had burnt my car and the office building was now in flames and that we were all consumed in the fire. Mabel did not know what
to do as she had not heard from me the whole of that day and so she could only think of our family pastor, Father Kenneth
Sharpe of the Cambridge Brotherhood and asked him to pray for my safety. It also so happened that on the very same day, Malathi
had gone through some rough ragging at CMC, Vellore on her admission to the M.B.B.S. course and she was in such a terrible
state of mind that she told Mabel that it was a rotten College with a lot of rowdies and that she would never like to step
into that college again. Mabel, already saddened with the bad news from the Factory , could only tell Malathi that she was
so upset as to whether Dad was alive or not and so the only thing she could suggest was that she should proceed to Bangalore
and meet Viola, her periamma and God mother and abide by her advice. Viola was so tactful and calmed Malathi and took her
back to Vellore and saw to it that she was not going to be ragged any more.
I came out of the building after the arrival of the police at about 5 pm and called Mabel and told her that with God’s
care and protection, I was safe and alive and that I would return to the house only late in the night as I had certain formalities
to complete. Mabel rang up Father Sharpe and gave him the good news and it was so sweet of Father Sharpe who was preaching
at our Cathedral Church of Redemption the following day to tell us to launch out fearlessly into the deep and God would fully
protect His children always and under all circumstances. It was so comforting.
After coming out, I sat with the Police and prepared charge sheets with the help of my Vigilance Officer against over
100 of my workers with charges ranging from burning my car, throwing stones and bricks at us, attacking the security staff,
blocking the approach roads to the Factory preventing the Fire engines to come in, cutting my telephone connection and for
their murderous assault on the Management. This and the filing of complaints with the police against the workers took us
up to about 9 pm and then we raided their quarters nearby to arrest the culprits. A number of them had run away but quite
a few were arrested on the very same day and the rest within a few days later. Their cases were taken up in the court and
about 100 workers were convicted and given punishment from 6 months to a year. I could only return to my house that day at
about 1 am in the following morning after arresting the workers concerned.
The workers were under the impression that I would be scared of going over to the Factory after this incident and that
I may even ask for my transfer out of the Factory. They were however sadly mistaken as I was there the following Monday to
ensure that the all the Departments of the Factory worked fully though with a slightly depleted strength of workers without
the workers who had been arrested. You will be surprised to note that there was only one other worker, a carpenter who was
a Christian among the 2500 of my workers. After this incident, I found that the workers had great respect for me as I continued
to mingle with them freely, treated them fairly and looked into their grievances if any, whenever they brought these to my
notice. They used to address me as "Sher", that is, "Lion of the Factory", as they knew that I was firm
with them where discipline was concerned but at the same time I was a friend to them. I was with them for 3 more years till
1971. You may believe it or not, during the Holi celebrations, even after I had left the Factory in 1971 and till 1996 when
I left Delhi for Madras, truckloads of workers would come to my house bringing marigold garlands and bags of coloured powder
to paint me with colours from head to foot showing their respect and affection for me And in return, Mabel would be waiting
to give them all a good feed of cakes, samoosas, fruits and drinks. Whatever situation I may have gone through, I am very
happy over the performance of the Factory, as when I left, the Factory had a cumulative profit of over one crore of Rupees
and the Factory is still in existence and is contributing quite a bit to the developmental activities of the country.
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