Hailing from Pakala in Andhra Pradesh, Hemananda has a nice way of relaxing by playing with his toddler daughter, Bhavika, while his wife, Swathi, a former financial analyst, takes care of the home front.

Snehal hails from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh and his life partner is Roshani, who is a Product Manager at Lemford Biotech. 

“There are several memorable moments personally and professionally,” he shares excitedly. “Professionally, there are two: one, when I was placed at L&T, my dream company and the other, when I was rated Outstanding Performer in my yearly performance review!”

The main challenge facing Panchal Sagarkumar Vijaybhai at the 132/​11kV Substation project in Kuwait was to maintain the same tempo of work even as things started getting severely disrupted due to the pandemic. “At the same time, we had to counsel and motivate our workmen who were very scared and demoralized,” he says. “Due to the lockdown, there was a lot of scarcity of resources to meet our requirements which was another huge hurdle for me to keep work progressing at site,” he says worriedly.

As things started to come to head, Sagarkumar put together an effective plan to keep the project on track. “One important aspect was to provide all room clearance access to immediately start electrical works,” he points out. “Since we were facing delays because of no clearances as our client was not working due to the pandemic, I discussed with them for clearances to start parallel electrical activity to avoid delay and maintain our final delivery target.” Sagarkumar was drawing on his experience of having worked at a host of PT&D projects in Oman since joining L&T as a GET in 2014 including the 132/​33 kV Amerat-​Mabela Substation, the 400 kV and 132/​32 kV Substations at IZKI, the 132/​33 kV Substation at Suwaiq and DAS and the 400/​132 kV Substation which was also the first in Oman under OETC.

A major positive development arising out of the pandemic has been the introduction of virtual inspections through video conferencing with both the client and vendors that has gone a long way to help Sagarkumar and his team to maintain progress. “The idea of training our engineers in the absence of vendor supervisors due to the travel restrictions imposed by the Kuwaiti government has been another unique thing,” shares a pleased Sagarkumar.

He is proud of being a part of L&T because, as he says, “the company encourages ownership and provides a platform for those employees who really want to perform.”

One of Kadiyam Srinivasa Srikanth’s pastimes is to think about changing the way we do things, a most appropriate one at a time when everything has turned upside down. He is presently EHS Incharge at the project involving the Supply and Installation of 22 132/​11 kV substations at SABM and MUTL in Kuwait. “Our major challenge was the rule laid down by Kuwait’s Ministry of Health to cordon off any area that reported even one positive COVID case,” he says. “24 hours lockdown imposed for 3 months in areas with a concentration of expatriates like Mahboula, Jleeb & Farwaniya blocked almost 60% of our sub-​contractors,” says a worried Srikanth. “Even after the quarantine procedure, people with even mild general health irregularities like fever and bodyache were considered as threats as asymptomatic cases. Our target was therefore to maintain our record of zero cases at site and office.”

Srikanth is extremely thankful for the COVID-​19 Response Team in their fight against the pandemic. “The CRT chaired by Mr. Pratik Desai (Chief Executive, Kuwait) & Mr. S Bharathi Kumar (Head, PT&D, Kuwait) is our lifeline,” acknowledges Srikanth. “Our weekly digital meetings and daily suggestions on WhatsApp helped us maintain our milestones till date,” he says with a triumphant smile. “I can also proudly say that our company’s SOPs and guidance from the country management are far more demanding than the requirements of clients and since we had already initiated our measures even before receiving the requirements from our client, it was a cakewalk for us to comply with them. In fact, my team is my strength, led by Mr. Avinash K R, Senthil Raja G P & Thiruchelvam M,” he emphasizes. “We had awareness sessions and even took action against violators to keep our safety record intact,” he says, sounding just like a diligent EHS professional.

Srikanth’s list of responsibilities included an undertaking from subcontractors as per L&T procedure to have their camps inspected every 45 days, shift from biometric marking of attendance, maintaining adequate stocks of PPEs, weekly awareness programmes for workmen and staff, assign camp bosses at the guest house for controls, weekly fumigation, sanitization and medical checks.

Although having handled IR since 2009 and knowing the rules of the game well, Noble admits that this has been an entirely different situation. “Retaining workmen was our priority and we succeeded in our mission of holding about 150 of them. The task was not only about keeping the workmen safe but ensuring their safety at work fronts across a 100 km span.” As works resumed in the first week of April, the IR team had a task at hand that was spread out and required getting into details, indicates Noble. “A seemingly facile job of providing workmen accommodation was becoming a challenge as the locals were initially reluctant to give houses on rent. Largely with the support of the client, we were able to establish bases. While on the move, the challenge was to align with the SOPs of commuting workmen to the fronts in limited numbers in line with the work sequence. It was a long-​drawn scheme but conveyed a strong message that we care for our workmen that attracted more numbers as we forged ahead.”

Proving L&T’s mettle during the pandemic has opened a range of benefits for Noble and his team. “Today, our good and safe work is being appreciated by the administrators as well as the locals. Especially the way we handled the mobilisation of new workmen, ensuring their quarantine arrangements with periodic updates to the authorities have all enhanced our credibility of being a responsible corporate.”

Sameh Gamil Labib’s wife, Marian Fahmy, works as a travel consultant and it looks very likely that Sameh has sought and followed her advice for he is an Egyptian working in Kuwait for an Indian company! At his first project with L&T, Sameh is involved in the supply and installation of nine 132/​11 kV substations at Multla City in Kuwait and with the outbreak of the pandemic, he says, “My first challenge was to plan how we could quickly make up for all the time lost as soon as we were able to resume operations after the lockdown.” The first step that Sameh and his team took towards this end was to identify the most important milestones that could be achieved first. “We drew up a priority list of activities that we needed to start with and that has helped us a lot to quickly cover lost ground,” shares Sameh, looking pleased at what they as a team have achieved.

Another step that they took was to request the client for gate passes for their manpower to work even during the lockdown. “This was both for our manpower and the manpower of our subcontractors,” Sameh points out. “Our client helped and thanks to their intervention, we were able to get the permissions and do some essential work during the lockdown which has proved to be very helpful,” he says, acknowledging the support from his client. Sameh is also very grateful to both his seniors and colleagues at site for their support and guidance during this difficult phase. “They supported me in every decision that I made which was always in the interest of the company and they helped me to successfully implement them too,” he smiles.

“I am absolutely in awe of the huge projects implemented by L&T,” he signs off.

Shiv Kumar, Section In-​charge, for the Meerut District under the Saubhagya Cluster 1 Project, has a larger purpose to bring light to 500+ villages, a job that is driving him amid these challenging times. “I must thank my seniors at site for having reposed faith in my abilities,” he acknowledges with a modest smile. “With the project spanning across districts, the challenges were many considering the rural environment. During the early phase, we went about our tasks with a specific plan, but the lockdown called for a revised approach,” he highlights.

A list of essentials had to be quickly put in place for the safety of the workmen and, “our primary target was to prepare to resume operations,” he emphasizes. “Labour management was our biggest issue and it had to be worked out district wise. Convincing the locals that it was safe to work at our site was just as important as mobilizing them,” indicates Shiv. “It was easily said than done but then in such projects the advantage is that you work in close quarters with the local habitats where actions speak louder than words. Seeing our earnest efforts, concern for workmen and the overall benefit for the community, their sentiments changed, and the momentum gradually shift towards us.”

“Further, our good work in line with the SOPs, client’s backing and networking ensured that we quickly added to the workmen numbers to take up new work fronts,” he says. Streamlining work at site involved procuring a long list of special permissions that was also on the shoulders of Shiv and his colleagues. “There were these weekend lockdowns for which approvals were required. At times, it required extra effort of roping in the Village Pradhans to overcome the roadblocks and address tensions at ground level,” he shares seriously.