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RAILWAYS SBG L&T GEOSTRUCTURE AWARDS & RECOGNITION KALEIDOSCOPE 55 YEARS OF DEVOTED SERVICE

Having joined L&T as a GET, Prabir Kumar has seen action with L&T GeoStructure at the Nabinagar project for CW and MUW syste“I was there from March ’15 to October ’20, involved in constructing an intake well, 2.4 km long structural bridge, switch gear area, a CW channel of one km, a CW duct of 3.6 m dia and a CW pump house,” he shares. “From there I have moved here to the Farakka site to build a navigational lock.”

When operations resumed after the unlock, Prabir and team had a lot to handle. “The workmen were initially very hesitant to join work and the locals very unsupportive immediately after the unlock as they thought we would become spreaders of the pandemic,” he says, shaking his head. “Billing and documentation were difficult as the client didn’t want to entertain us in person and since our work necessarily requires large crowds, we faced serious problems of following the COVID-​19 guidelines. Conveyance was also difficult as only 3 people were allowed in a car including the driver.”

Since manpower was an issue, the team concentrated on achieving immediate milestones with their limited resources and, at the same time, convinced the client for some time extension. “We mobilized local labour and convinced them to stay at our labour colony where we set up a local clinic, stressed on social distancing and educated them about the pandemic.” In addition, to maintain progress, the team took every step to keep their workforce safe with thermal screenings, providing sanitizers, building a strong and supportive environment, and providing moral support.

While Prabir’s seniors and team members were extremely supportive both professionally and personally, as a team they quickly adapted to the new normal by conducting all their meetings with the client virtually through MS Teams, ensured that billing was not held up while the site cameras helped them to safeguard the site even if they were stuck at their homes.

“I love to listen to songs and play badminton and sometimes do find the time for them,” he smiles. Hailing from Rampur Dumra in Bihar, Prabir is married to Neha Kumari who is a software engineer at TCS, and they are blessed with 4‑month-​old Avyukt. “The day I became a father is my most cherished memory,” he says with feeling.

“L&T is an organization that takes care of its employees even during these tough times and treat us as assets and not liabilities,” he says proud of his company

Sameer Gupta Nunna

Assistant Manager (Civil), L&T GeoStructure

Sameer Gupta is a very happy man as he has just been engaged to his fiancé, Akhila Priya, a software engineer working at Hyderabad, and they are already dreaming of their years ahead. Sameer also has reason to be happy as his efforts have helped his project to build the navigational lock at Farakka make significant progress after the unlock. “I started my career with L&T as a Senior Engineer in the Planning Department in 2017 and this is my first project,” he introduces himself before plunging into the challenges he faced at site once the restrictions were lifted.

“Remobilization was our main concern starting with administrative approval, convincing the local workmen to resume work, motivating and making them aware of the situation as best known to us,” he shares. The team had to create awareness among the local workmen deployed regarding hygiene & social distancing and ensure a steady supply of construction materials and consumables. “We restarted work on April 20th the very first day of unlock and poured 36 cum concrete for the Counterfort retaining wall,” shares Sameer with a winning smile. “By June, we had started to mobilize local workmen to ensure smooth operations. We pushed for inspections of major procurement items through video conference and such like that are billable to client and for the client to consider and pass our bills in the digital form. We obtained emergency approval for PPC cement against our contractual requirement of OPC Cement and despite the lockdown situation we raised a bill of INR 9.27 Crores, around 2.9 % of contract value in June-​20.” One can almost feel his chest swell with pride.

To make such headway, planning was key, and Sameer mentions their monthly plans to monitor progress on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis along with statistical analysis for individual activities. “We forecasted future progress based on the current productivity, prepared a Catch-​up plan with site team leaders and conducted regular meetings with them to achieve our targets.” He mentions the digital solutions adopted by the project including Procube, Quality Incident Report, Safety App and WISA.

Hailing from Nakkapalli, near Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Sameer has a long list of hobbies that include playing cricket, badminton, table tennis, travelling, watching movies, and listening to songs. “Twice or thrice a year we go to some tourist spot with my family,” he adds with a smile.

In conclusion he says, “I am proud to be a member of the L&T team where I have immense opportunities to showcase my talent and skill.”

“When work pressure increases, my efficiency also increases,” declares Rajiv Nayan. “I am definitely able to perform better under pressure, without ever compromising on safety.” These words must be music for Rajiv’s superiors and team members for, as we all know, pressure is our constant companion during the construction process, and it has been even more severe during the days of the pandemic. Involved in the construction of the new navigational lock at Farakka which is also Rajiv’s first project with L&T GeoStructure, his primary concern when the restrictions were lifted was to get his P&M assets up and running at the earliest.

“All the hired assets had been de-​hired for the lockdown and my first objective was to re-​hire all of them as quickly as possible to restart work,” his eyes revealing his focus. “All the geo-​technical instrument work was completed on time that reduced breakdowns and 99% of our success was due to proper maintenance work planning,” he shares with the satisfaction of a job well done. “During the lockdown, I was working from home trying to achieve our targets and remained in constant touch with the client about our progress.”

Post the unlock, work resumed smoothly at site following all the strict COVID-​19 safety protocols of departmental workmen coming only every alternate week for work, maintaining safe distance from each other when working and isolating those who showed even mild sympto“I am tech savvy, so I did not have any issues to adopt to the new digital ways of working during this period,” he smiles. “We, as a construction company, quickly learnt to work from home that was already an accepted norm in the IT industry. It was also a very efficient and beneficial shift for the company economically.”

“My seniors and team members have always helped to groom my career,” says a thankful Rajiv, acknowledging the support and cooperation of his team members above, with and below him. “Our seniors are assets of the organization, not only for their contribution towards creating organizational profits but also for their advice and help to the juniors. One mantra is Guru Devoh bhavah,” he adds with conviction.

From Delhi, Rajiv is married to Akanksha Jaiswal who is employed, and they are blessed with one son, Advik Choudhry. His pastime engagements are playing cricket and watching reality shows but as most like him hardly finds the time to pursue them. “Becoming a father was my most memorable moment,” he says with feeling.

“The following aspects make me proud of our organization,” he says in conclusion. “Hard work helps us achieve our targets on time, we work as a family and we are very grounded.”

Bejeep Kumar Nayak

Assistant Manager (Civil), L&T GeoStructure

TEAMWORK AND MOTIVATION FROM THE SENIOR MANAGEMENT

Lokeshwaran Balasubramanian

Senior Engineer (EHS), L&T GeoStructure

Teamwork and motivation from the senior management is what Lokeshwaran Balasubramanian finds most endearing about L&T where he is working at his first project with L&T GeoStructure to construct the navigational lock at Farakka. The onset and rapid spread of COVID-​19 has put extra pressure on EHS managers across the organization to keep their employees and workmen safe. Lokeshwaran has come out trumps for he proudly declares that “there has not been a single COVID-​19 positive case at the Farakka site till date.”

It was crucial for Lokeshwaran to keep the project safe for the Farakka team is involved in a critical infrastructure project to construct a new navigational lock to raise and lower ships or vessels between stretches of water of different levels on the river and canal waterways. The project has strategic importance as, once completed, a ship will take only some 38 minutes to traverse the course against the 2 hours it takes presently. “In fact,” he adds, “if a vessel is followed by another in the opposite direction, the operating time will only be 23 minutes.”

Attaining the same workmen strength as that of pre-​COVID times was a great triumph for the team and a major factor in achieving progress. From a safety perspective, Lokeshwaran says, “We used the Safety App to raise observations related to Unsafe Acts and Unsafe Conditions at site to alert the site supervisors.”

Still single, Lokeshwaran hails from Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu and says that he loves reading and learning new things during his free time.

He is appreciative of the help and support from the site admin team of Poulose Devassia & Subrat Kumar Dash to organize meetings between the local authorities and site work force. “Our Project Manager, Rajaneesh Kumar Rai has also been very helpful giving immediate approvals for the basic precautionary items in times of need,” he says sincerely.

Sidda Siva

Senior Engineer (QA/​QC), L&T GeoStructure

“During the lockdown, I spent my time preparing RFI documents for the pending works, measurement sheets for work completed, quantities for further billing and successfully submitted invoices of around INR 3 crores,” shares a happy Sidda Siva. “We contacted our client representatives who were not in office to certify the invoices. Then we planned our schedule for the balance completion works and with a priority list of activities that required less manpower.”

Presently at his second project with L&T GeoStructure at the CMRL, Korukkupet Station project after a stint at the Dhamra LNG Tank foundation works, since joining L&T in 2018, Sidda is feeling good. “Our plans were fruitful,” he smiles, “ensuring that we did not deviate from our targets one bit.” As anticipated, mobilizing skilled manpower after the unlock was a huge challenge especially in a hot zone like Chennai. Then there was the need for rigorous training to bring the fresh labour to deliver. With supply chains disrupted, material procurement was another tough nut to crack for the project team. “Apart from focusing on deploying skilled workmen, we used to spend most of our time on the phone negotiating with vendors from across the country and finally succeeded to execute 1500 cum of concrete within a month after the unlock.”

The team’s first objective when restrictions were lifted was to complete the unfinished works as quickly as possible with proper finishing to open more work fronts. “We updated ourselves of progress achieved by visiting and inspecting every corner of our work zones daily for further improvement,” he remarks. “Our client’s engineers were available 24/​7 for inspections and approvals and their suggestions and actions supported us in every aspect and helped ‘push’ us to achieve our targets.” Sidda is thankful for his vendors too some of whom even went out of their way to supply both manpower and material at their own cost. “We continuously monitored quality through the QIR (Quality Incident Report) digital App that really helped us improve our quality standards hugely.”

Sidda is thankful to his current Project Co-​ordinator G. Boobathy Vishwanath, Project Manager, V Balamanikandan, Accounts-​Head Manager Annapurnarao, his senior, Raguwaran D and colleague S.K. Sabir for their guidance and support. A native of Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, Sidda is single and loves to play cricket and cook in his spare time. “Cooking refreshes the mind and is also a survival skill,” he laughs. Securing the first rank across AP in ECET is his most cherished achievement.

“L&T cares for its employees,” he shares proudly. “The senior managers treat their colleagues like family, are always approachable and friendly. I am privileged to share such a bond with them all.”

Anil Kumar KVM

Senior Engineer (Execution), L&T GeoStructure

“I still remember a day in mid-​May 2020 during the lockdown at my project in Tondiarpet when we had to cast a 520 cm base slab within a limited time frame of 11 pm to next morning 6 am,” recalls Anil Kumar. “It was really a tough challenge for the team, but we accepted it and completed the work on time. It was a proud moment for all of us that won special appreciation from our client, CMRL.” Anil is currently deputed at the cut and cover section, Tondiarpet, to construct an underground box tunnel connecting the elevated and underground metro stations which is his second assignment with L&T GeoStructure after a stint at the Kalinga Coal Terminal project at Paradip Port.

“Post unlock, we have made very good progress but to take up the tough task to execute the base slab, we had to bring in operators from their hometowns and mobilize skilled labour from different states,” Anil shares his challenges. Handling execution, Anil proudly updates the extent of work completed since operations resumed. “We have achieved a mass area PCC casting of 440 sqm of 22 m length for which we have excavated 2700 cum quantity of base slab muck with a single excavator Ex81 working non-​stop for 72 hours.” In this project, excavation and disposal of muck are critical to open new work fronts and when the team faced issues with the timing, they increased dumper movement from the RMC to site to complete their concrete pour on time.

“We have maintained progress also by co-​ordinating with our sub ordinates and supervisors,” Anil explains, “by explaining the targets to be achieved in the given time by mobilising the steel from the fabrication yard, managing muck disposal and labour mobilisation to site.”

It is a great feeling to see when all your effort has translated into a wonderful piece of infrastructure which was Anil’s feeling of elation at the inauguration of his metro section. “Our first journey on the metro along with our G Boobathy Vishwanath — Project Control, Anand N Pujar — P&M Incharge, Kanchi Yard and our Praveen Kumar Shetty — Project Manager was really a proud and memorable moment.”

Hailing from Samalkot in Andhra Pradesh, Anil is still in search of his life partner and loves to travel to new places and see the cultures of other states.

He is proud of working with L&T as “it propels my skills and knowledge to construct challenging projects and help meet the needs our country to keep it a step ahead.”

For young, Aditya Gaikwad, GET Batch of 2019, CIVID-​19 has been a tough proving ground. “In Chennai, we were right in the middle of a hot zone,” he begins from his Cut & Cover section, Phase 1 Extension project at Tondiyarpet. “Our biggest concern was the agitated workmen who were confused whether to stay or move out or even return to their native places so how could we get them to work? As nothing transcends love and care,” he says philosophically, “I regularly stayed in touch with our workmen making sure that their needs were always met. We had electricians, plumbers, and security always available and we even arranged to pay their salary for April when we were locked down.”

Once the restrictions were lifted, the project team’s strategy was to start work on all fronts with the available resources. “We staggered our work activities, coordinated regularly with our client and suppliers, initiated parallel activities breaking them down to allocate them evenly across to achieve maximum productivity. As part of the project management team, we monitored progress daily, identifying critical activities that would help us push forward both in terms of work and invoicing.” Invoicing was also strictly monitored to make sure that the team was able to sustain the losses of the lockdown and sustain to meet the demands of the workforce to provide them a safe working environment in these challenging times.

“At our peak stage (pre-​lockdown), we had 350+ workmen,” he notes, “but in the two months of partial lockdown we achieved 400 m of slabs (1m thick) cast with the available workforce and resources. Another achievement is that we completed 1 million safe manhours in January 2021,” he remarks triumphantly.

Aditya is thankful for his client’s support, “ranging from grass root issues like providing food supplies and sanitisation amenities for the migrant workforce to helping the staff with the invoicing and maintaining cash flow even in the tough times.”

On his second project with L&T GeoStructure after a brief stint at Runj Dam project, Aditya’s best moment was when India’s Prime Minister inaugurated his project. “It was a surreal feeling,” he gushes, “having had a first-​hand experience of the challenges and seeing us come out of them to finish the works; how we transformed a heap of muck and soil into a modern tunnel with a high-​speed train running in it.” He is thankful to Project Director, Bhoopathy Sir, Project Managers, P K Shetty and Siddahatan for their support and guidance. “I am proud to be groomed under such skilled people,” he remarks.

“The work culture of L&T has so much depth,” he states in conclusion, “that anyone can fit in and is welcomed by the management.”

“I joined L&T GeoStructure as a GET in July 2019 and was rotated across multiple projects as part of my training and post absorption, at three other projects,” shares Srimanthula Sai Sharan, who is presently deputed at the Cut & Cover Section, Phase 1 extension of the Chennai Metro project at Tondiarpet. “I was put into multiple roles and given different responsibilities during this phase that has given me both an exposure and an enhanced view of the working of various departments. I would say I was lucky to get such varied experience in such a short time thanks to HR’s unique training programme,” he says gratefully.

After the unlock, the site had very few workmen and since GeoStructure is more machinery-​oriented, lack of operators was a severe crisis. Bringing back labour was the team’s initial focus and then turning their focus to procuring and replenishing materials in the store as supply chains were disrupted by the lockdowns. The team had another more urgent issue, as Sai explains. “We were moving towards the end of the project and in full swing when the pandemic struck. With everything at a standstill, our immediate milestone was to plan and finish the balance works to complete the project in the specified timeline as requested by the CMRL team in time for the PM’s commissioning of the metro line.”

With reduced timelines and busy schedules, they crashed the duration required for majority of the activities keeping the extra cost incurred under threshold levels. “With immense pressure to fast track all activities, we planned meticulously, allocated the limited resources, pushed beyond our normal limits to achieve progress and invoice the same. In such difficult times we had achieved a record major concrete pour of 550 cum in 16 hours by engaging two RMCs without compromising on quality or safety,” he shares triumphantly. With the Cut & Cover section spread over a total of 600 m, they divided it into two for easier monitoring assigning separate tea“Thanks to the good coordination between the manager, engineers and workmen, we delivered on time!”

Sai specially mentions the fierce determination of Project Coordinator, G. Boobathy Vishwanath, Project Manager, C. Sidharthan and Construction Manager, Praveen Kumar Shetty to push the team to perform above their potential.

“Ours is a small family of four consisting my father, elder sister, younger brother and myself,” shares Sai, who is still single and hails from Husnabad, a small town in Siddipet, Telangana. “I love to play badminton and other outdoor games as well as indoor ones on the mobile like puzzles, riddles, shooting, etc.” His fond memories are about trips, time with his family and of course, the PM’s inauguration of his line.

“Working with L&T is a lifetime experience,” he shares in conclusion. “I take pride in learning and playing a small part in building the nation!”