FOREWORD IT IS ALL ABOUT PLACING THE RIGHT PEOPLE IN THE RIGHT SEATS IN THE BUS! BF IC HEAVY CIVIL IC
RREC PT&D IC WET IC RAILWAYS SBG MMH SBG AWARDS & RECOGNITION KALEIDOSCOPE

Though he began his career in 2009, it was not until June 2016 that Dhananjaya NV found the opportunity to join his dream company and is presently at his second project with L&T — the Delhi-​Vadodara greenfield alignment after an earlier stint in the planning department at the Rewa-​Katni-​Jabalpur-​Lakhnadon project. Work began almost as soon as he joined the project in July 2020. “We had poured structural concrete on the first day itself and invoiced in the very first month of NTP too,” happy with his team’s effort. Being a greenfield project, it involves loads of concreting work and Dhananjaya’s major issue has been labour shortage during the COVID pandemic.

Having fixed their financial targets with a detailed plan, Dhananjaya and team arranged for the required material, machinery, and manpower, engaging nine earthwork subcontractors, each with 2 to 3 teams of their own. “We commenced all the structures, mobilized sufficient manpower and completed the culverts and all substructures of bridges ahead of the monsoon” flagging off another win. “We started the GSB, WMM & asphalt work from the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th months of project beginning respectively with proper mobilization of plants, machineries & manpower.” Daily follow up with the site engineers on their work plan and daily virtual meetings kept the team informed of developments at ground level. “We even had a dedicated resource from planning to monitor P&M performance,” he adds.

Their works conformed to MoRTH and the relevant IRC specifications while the Contractor’s dedicated Quality surveillance team (Q4) monitored the works that were seen by representatives of the Authority and the Authority’s Engineer. Dhananjaya attributes their success to the leadership of Project Director, Jeeva David, guidance of his seniors and support from his colleagues. “I’m so lucky to have them in my planning team,” he says sincerely. “They are punctual, responsible, always ready to help each other which is why there is a lot we can do together!”

TAKING CHALLENGES IN HIS STRIDE TO PERFORM

Ashok Kumar Mishra

Construction Manager (Civil), RREC

There is a refreshing aggressiveness about Ashok Kumar Mishra as he shares his various efforts to keep things ticking over at his present project, the Delhi-​Vadodara green field Alignment (NH-​148N) Expressway Pkg-​22, in the state of Madhya Pradesh which happens to be his 9^th project with L&T. Having joined in 2000, his first posting was at the Ahmedabad-​Mehsana toll road project followed by several more including the iconic Delhi-​Agra Road project, the Unnao-​Lucknow Expressway, and the Rewa-​Katni-​Jabalpur Package 2. At the Delhi-​Vadodara project, his primary concerns were to mobilize workmen and vendors after the lockdown apart from having to procure the completion certificate from his previous Rewa-​Katni project.

“We wanted to achieve something unique at our project, so we planned to execute 5000 MT of WMM & 5000 MT of DBM in a single day,” he says, warming up to the challenge. “As per our plan, we recently achieved 5057 MT of WMM in a single day, 5035 MT of DBM in 19 hours and continuously paved 15,000 MT of DBM in 68 hours.” He looks pleased with his team and himself. “Being a new greenfield road project, we have constructed an access road along the alignment with minimum cost,” he says proudly.

Sharing his work strategy, Ashok says, “I always plan to take more fronts to execute road works because it helps to get the targeted productivity out of the resources and vendors also work with 100% efficiency.” He targets to utilize as many resources as possible from areas close to the site and adds, “I always target to get the early invoice of work by executing the work with minimum quantity of stretches.”

As a rule, Ashok closely monitors the work and manpower and decides on machinery allocation according to work quantities prior to start of any activity every day. “I also ensure submissions and approvals of RFIs and checklists from client on a daily basis,” he says. “By maintaining good relations with the client, I am able to follow up and quickly resolve critical issues that our vendors face that helps us to achieve our targets,” he smiles. “Our seniors always motivate me to work in the allocated time frame and boosts me to achieve our goals. Our team spirit is good,” he shares happily.

Ashok hails from Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh and is married to Priya, who is a homemaker. They are blessed with two children, daughter, Nimisha and son, Rudrakash. “During my free time, I love to spend quality time with my family or listen to music,” he says of his hobbies, adding that celebrating his daughter’s first birthday is the moment that has been most memorable.

FOCUSED ON PROJECT DELIVERY

Chandan Kumar Upadhyay

Senior Construction Manager (Civil), RREC

“We always concentrate on our target and smart deployment of resources from machinery to materials,” says Chandan Kumar Upadhyay, currently posted at the MP Expressway Project, Ratlam Pkg-​22, and in charge of Sec B (Highway & Structures). “We ensure timely availability of bulk materials and consumables after negotiating with our vendors, and that of sub-​contractors and workmen to achieve better work productivity. Recently, we laid 15,000 MT of DBM in 69 hours during the second wave, a matter of great pride for all of us.” He exults, adding “a great team effort under difficult circumstances!”

Acute shortage of labour and increasing positive cases were their headaches, “but with our Project Director, Jeeva David’s guidance and support, we counselled our staff and workmen, assuring them of their wellbeing by adequately meeting all their requirements,” he remarks, adding that ambulance facilities were arranged at the guest house and labour colonies with qualified doctors in attendance.

“Accelerating project works across various fronts was a core aspect of our job as we had lost considerable amount of time,” says a determined Chandan. “With the help and support of various departments like planning, admin, stores, etc., we garnered sufficient labour and procured materials at the required time which progressively helped us to accelerate the work.” The team monitored daily progress to extract maximum output from their resources. “Addressing issues with the contractor, scheduling, and prioritising workplace safety compliance; work force management; material, subcontractor, flawless supply chain and risk management are critical issues. Prudent decision-​making and a proactive approach helped us overcome hurdles.”

“It was important to create a positive atmosphere and encourage our team to overcome all challenges ahead, by providing good counselling and support from my senior members,” he says. “Our BU Head, RK Bansal, Segment Head, KHK, Project Director, and Project Manager, Anil Kumar Sachan have helped and guided me to overcome this pandemic with full confidence. My heartfelt thanks to them again.”

Having joined L&T in 2007 from IVRCL, a defining period for Chandan was his first posting at the Krishnagiri Thoppur Road Project site where he learnt the ropes about construction methods & techniques that has held him in good stead right through till date. Proud to contribute to nation building, he is presently at his 5^th project after earlier stints at iconic projects including the Beawar Pali Pindwara and the Rewa Katni Jabalpur Lakhnadon road projects. Hailing from the steel city of Jamshedpur, Chandan’s life partner is Swetha, a homemaker, and they are blessed with three children, daughters, Prachi and Trisha and son, Pratyush. “I like listening to songs and watching cricket and a tour of Udaipur with my family was a memorable experience,” he shares with feeling.

ENJOYING THE FREEDOM TO PERFORM

Maharashtra was for long in the eye of the pandemic storm with the result construction projects in the state had to endure severe disruptions like the ones Injeti Rajasekhar faced at his Mumbai-​Nagpur Expressway project in Aurangabad. “My main target was to mobilize the labour as soon as the unlock began but workmen were reluctant to come so I personally visited the nearby villages and mobilized about 100 local workmen for the daily concreting and housekeeping works which helped us in invoice generation to some extent. Finally, I successfully mobilized some 1500 workmen,” he shares and adds that to complete the balance structural works within the limited time schedule, he had to mobilize major earthwork contractors too, “after which, we have done 45,000 cum per day due to which we could complete our scope before schedule. After the arrival of new labour, we planned and executed two major bridges, canal bridges and heavy structures. Good planning, following SOPs and management support helped me in this regard,” he says, mindful of the support he enjoys at site.

Having mobilized labour gangs from various states enticing them with additional incentives, IRS and team made good progress in the structural works and, in the process, created work fronts for earthwork. “Since all our structures were 6 to 7 meters in height, the extent of earthwork backfilling was more,” he points out. “We used the lockdown period brilliantly to regularize approvals/​permissions for the burrow areas and to overcome the challenges of the monsoon, we identified nearby stretches (for Batching Plants) for PQC targets to minimise the lead issues and slippage of loaded dumpers.” For close monitoring, teams were formed with their respective leaders. “We operated almost all the plants round the clock by dividing the crew into shifts. WhatsApp groups, Strip Charts, DPR, etc., helped us to monitor progress and productivity,” he remarks.

Attributing his success to his organization and team, IRS says, “I really enjoy the freedom to work here, which has helped me a lot to plan my activities and execute at site even during these critical times. I appreciate the organization for giving importance to Safety and Quality at par with Execution,” he says with fervour.

IRS hails from Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh and is married to Sesha, who, he describes as a “good homemaker.” They are blessed with two daughters, Kushi and Ishita. “I love to travel and listen to music,” smiles IRS, “and the two of the most memorable moments in my life were receiving my appointment letter from L&T and the birth of my first daughter.”

CHANGING SITUATIONS, CHANGING PRIORITIES

A lateral entrant into L&T after having worked on several projects in metro, roads, highways, plants, and buildings, Palash Das found himself facing a whole set of new priorities at his WDFC CTP-​14 project owing to the pandemic. “Mobilization of manpower, supply chain management, assessing impact on cash flows, ensuring a safe working environment and making up for the lost time were our main areas of focus,” he begins.

“An entirely new action plan was prepared with individual responsibility assigned to engineers for each activity and our vision was made clear to all the stakeholders involved at site,” he says, describing their revised approach. “Our total scope of work was divided into monthly, weekly and daily programmes with respective targets, and we engaged all our resources to complete priority works that were monitored and evaluated on a daily basis against the fixed targets.”

Their approach was focused on responsibility, accountability, and collaborative planning, shares Palash, with In-​charges nominated for each section. “Our most important milestone after the pandemic was to create fronts for track laying.” Critical areas of work were identified, priorities set, and maximum resources engaged in priority works to complete and hand over. “Instead of deploying extra resources and increasing project cost, we diverted our existing resources from non-​critical activities with respect to their Float to critical activities.” By pre-​casting minor bridges instead of casting the box structure in situ, they saved time, cost of manpower, machinery, and material.

At his Nagpur-​Mumbai Super Communication Expressway project, which is also his first with L&T, Vikrant Joshi faced a unique issue. “We had achieved our first two milestones well before time and had a reputation to protect to achieve the 3^rd too but were disrupted by the pandemic,” he says sadly. Yet, though the odds were high, the team was determined to succeed. “Remobilization of manpower & machinery were most critical so we identified the bottlenecks, reviewed our strategy in the new context and prioritized structures that could generate more invoices to achieve our milestone on time.”

The project involves several critical structures including two major bridges, one ROB, VUPs & VOP along with two Interchanges. Work on these fronts had stopped due to lack of labour and re-​starting operations was a challenge. “Along with structural activities, we also had a whopping quantity of 78 lakh cum of earthwork in filling that required getting all our earthwork subcontractors back on track and obtaining the required governmental permissions.” Their only silver lining was that while the first wave caught them off guard, they were better prepared to face the second wave.

Vikrant and team recommenced all structural & highway related activities after the lockdown, but with limited manpower. “We got in touch with all the workmen and staff and convinced them to return to site and with their return, work resumed across all fronts,” he says with relief writ large on his face. While a dedicated team of engineers, supervisors & workmen were deployed across all critical structures to accelerate work, different earthwork subcontractors were bought in to speed up the filling work. “We identified private borrow areas in the vicinity of the alignment that involved taking local farmers and landowners into confidence to start the work,” he adds. An activity wise responsibility matrix was created and assigned to all engineers, basis which monthly and weekly structural and highway programmes were prepared, considering the target completion date of the project, with course corrections made as required.

Vikrant quotes Charles Darwin as an inspiration, “The strength of the team is each individual member, and the strength of each member is the team,” along with Project Director, Srinivas Rongali’s experience, guidance, and motivation. “All our managers and engineers ensured that their subordinates are well taken care of to re-​build the team in an atmosphere of mutual trust,” he says.

Hailing from Nashik, Maharashtra, Vikrant’s better half is Devyani, who he shares, “has done her B. Arch. M Tech (Urban Planning) from VNIT, Nagpur and till 2017, served for Eigen Tech. Services as an Estimator though is now a homemaker.” Their two children are Sharvin and Sanyukta. “My hobbies are listening to music, reading books and playing cricket,” he smiles.