FOREWORD BIRSA MUNDA INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY STADIUM, ROURKELA – B&F IC PRESTIGE FINSBURY PARK – B&F IC RISHIKESH–KARNAPRAYAG RAILWAY TUNNEL (RVNL) PACKAGE-2 – HCI ICBANGALORE METRO RT-02 – HCI IC BANGALORE METRO RT-03 – HCI IC MUMBAI–VADODARA EXPRESSWAY – TI IC SUDAIR SOLAR PV IPP – PT&D IC IRCON T74R & T77 PACKAGE – PT&D IC
SURYA WATER SUPPLY SCHEME – WET IC GANGADHAR MEHER LIFT IRRIGATION PROJECT – WET IC RVNL ARJ BTT PKG-2 DOUBLING PROJECT – RAILWAYS SBG IRCON NFR RAILWAY ELECTRIFICATION PROJECT – RAILWAYS SBG MUMBAI METRO 10B & 10C PROJECTS – RAILWAYS SBG BLAST FURNACE #5 FOR JVML BALLARI – M&M SBG TATA KPO COKE OVEN PROJECT – M&M SBG VL’S 3 MTPA ALUMINA REFINERY PLANT PROJECT – M&M SBG
FLOOD MANAGEMENT PROJECT PACKAGE II, WEST BENGAL – L&T GEOSTRUCTURE KANUPUR CUT-OFF WALL PROJECT – L&T GEOSTRUCTURE AWARDS RECOGNITION KALEIDOSCOPE
A GOLD STEVIE® FOR TALENT MANAGEMENT!

About his team, Ram says, “Sound technical knowledge and trust are key factors in any employee’s ability to prove his or her capabilities and maintain utmost quality and accuracy for the work assigned. Secondly, decision-making qualities won’t be possible without our seniors’ trust and encouragement to deliver your best.”

Ram’s native place is Panna, Madhya Pradesh, and his better half is Ankita Shrivastava, a gold medallist in MSc. Geology, a home maker. “Without her support I would not be where and what I am,” he says with gratitude. Their joys are their daughter, Aradhya Shrivastava, studying in Class 3 and son, Advik Shrivastava, still enjoying his childhood. Ram loves outings, indoor games like badminton and chess, and outdoor ones like cricket and volleyball.

True to his opening statement, Logu has been greeted by several unique challenges. “A commonly faced problem when operating a TBM of sink holes forming has been addressed with suitable ground consolidation prior to tunnelling,” he remarks. The team resorted to controlled blasting methods to excavate the cross passages, which again, as he says, “was quite challenging, requiring close attention to safeguard the segments and the buildings above.” He pauses and adds, “Achieving timely progress was not easy,” he shakes his head.

To tackle unique challenges, you need to have a unique team and Logu is happy with his. “I have built a team with high standards and moulded them uniquely to consistently achieve progress,” he asserts, “for which, they should first understand the project requirements and throughout a shift, need to connect and build a communication bridge with all the team members, right from engineers to helpers to achieve progress.”

“Cross passage construction was a new challenge for me,” admits Logu, “and from day one of excavation, we found the ground behaving unexpectedly forcing us to keep changing our approach. Similarly, during blasting, we were unable to achieve the expected progress initially, but we kept innovating every day till we achieved progress. That was our defining moment,” he says resolutely. “My years in ground engineering work helped me understand the behaviour and characteristics of the ground mass during the excavation, and by implementing adequate support systems and systematic excavation methods like blasting patterns, we succeeded.”

Apart from a proactive approach to procurement, Rajesh attributes his success to smart thinking by optimizing resource utilization and reducing costs. “Leveraging our experience from HMRL of reusing materials, we identified various temporary structures and materials that could be reused for the BMRCL Project, specifically for the site office,” he says purposefully, like setting up essential facilities like the Store, Time, and QA/QC Offices. “We saved costs and highlighted our commitment to sustainability and responsible resource management.”

The umbilical launch of the TBM, commonly used due to space limitations, is something he is proud to have been a part of, as also the retrieval of TBMs at the Vellara Station by adopting an alternative arrangement due to lack of space. “Arranging TBM spares from the OEM (M/s. CRCHI, China) was really challenging, especially during the pandemic, so I developed alternative sources locally that saved us lots of time and money as well,” he says with a contented smile. When suppliers especially from Tamil Nadu defaulted, Rajesh jumped in to mobilize local suppliers to ensure that project progress was not disrupted due to shortage of materials.

Rajesh refers to Group Chairman, Mr. A M Naik’s statement that L&T stands as a professionally led enterprise actively contributing to the nation’s development. “This is the aspect that fills me with pride,” he says. He acknowledges his Project Manager, Vivek Maruti Pai’s mentorship. “His experience and insights have helped me navigate complex decisions and challenges in procurement,” he says gratefully. His Procurement Manager, Ravindra Yadav, has been a source of confidence and motivation too.

From Bhadrak, Odisha, Rajesh’s better half is Sagarika Sahu, a homemaker. He loves to learn new things and some of his more memorable moments have been his selection by L&T and completing the HMRL & CMRL Projects.

Efficient sub-contractor and workmen management are vital for project progress and young Vinuta is delighted that she has gradually mastered these two aspects at her Bangalore Metro RT-02 Project over the four years that she has been with L&T. “I am independently handling subcontractor management and billing,” she shares with unconcealed pride, “educating them about our partner portal and statutory requirements to help the project function smoothly.”

Her learning curve has been steep, both externally and internally, starting with identifying new subcontractors, coordinating with them to mobilize workmen and then interfacing with internal departments to complete the formalities. “Initially, I faced difficulties coordinating with the site execution team to process subcontractors’ bills in time but soon we all learnt the value of e-measurements in EIP and its importance to retain workmen,” she says. “Learning the in and out of the EIP system was difficult too. What’s more, I had to relearn several things after EIP 4.0 was introduced,” she grimaces. That she has learnt the ropes is reflected in the fact that she has trained two GETs in subcontractor management, billing and the EIP system.

“By timely processing their bills, we can retain subcontractors and mobilize their workmen as per our requirements. In fact, most of them have been associated with our project since inception,” she smiles. Since several of the subcontractors are from North India, Vinuta had to quickly learn Hindi to communicate with them effectively. “Presently, I independently manage 76 subcontractors,” she states with quiet assurance.

With both infrastructure and demand for construction workmen rapidly growing in India, especially after the pandemic-induced disruptions, timely mobilization of all categories of workmen is critical to maintain project progress. Vinuta’s vital contribution to this effort has been to mobilize 2,010 workmen in the last 7 months, from January – July 2023. She attributes her project’s efficiency to the 100% implementation of e-measurements and the biometric attendance system to calculate workmen productivity.

Apart from a good working environment, Vinuta is appreciative of the support and work ethics of Project Manager, Vivek Maruti Pai. “He motivates, inspires, and encourages me to involve myself in different aspects of construction while Planning Manager, Vinayak B. Gaonkar guides us, maintains a friendly attitude and his suggestions and information are useful to self-evaluate.”

Still single, Vinuta hails from Honnavar, Uttara Kannada, Karnataka, and her brightest memory is the happiness on her parents’ faces when she gifted them a car. She reads and surfs the net during her free time and is immensely grateful that L&T has presented her an opportunity to utilise and upgrade her skills and knowledge in underground Metro works.

Since their execution involves a lot of work at height, there were risks in assembling, dismantling, and using mobile towers for which Hari has arranged an exhibition of how each component is fitted on mobile scaffolds. Interestingly, placing a mirror that workers cannot miss, is his way to constantly remind them about “ownership” of their safety at the workplace.

Posted at the MG Road Station, Hari has been rigorously implementing health and safety initiatives from the word ‘go’ and proudly shares that their site has crossed 13+ million safe manhours. Good housekeeping is another area of Hari’s focus to remind everyone the importance of keeping the site neat and tidy and drives the ‘One day Safety Officer role’ initiative too for a Site Engineer to conduct site inspection. “This improves our execution team’s perception towards a Safety Officer’s role and the hardship of implementing risk control measures.”

“I have created safety parks, drawn up PPE matrixes for job-specific works, reuse waste tins to plant saplings, harvest rainwater, use gas cylinders for storage using remaining pieces of MS pipes & rebars and contribute towards reducing the carbon footprint by handing over used papers,” he adds. Hari is excited about the digital transformation in the Company with digital inspections and Apps like SHEiLD and IB4U transforming the way machinery is inspected.

“L&T is a great platform for learning with tremendous opportunities to improve my skills and growth,” he gushes about the Company that he joined at the Hyderabad Metro in 2013. Later, he moved to his present assignment where he was given a sound foundation by Chief SHE Manager, Deenadayalan. Hari is appreciative of the guidance and support he has received from Project Manager, Vivek Maruti Pai and Station Manager, Gajraj Singh.

Proud of being the first person from his village of Ramayapatnam, situated in coastal Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, to be educated, Hari is married to D Sailaja, a homemaker, whom he describes as “the one who balances my family, supports my career without any disturbance or complaints but always with a smile!” They are blessed with a baby boy, DV Takshit, and baby girl, DV Devanshi. His varied interests include cricket, volleyball, athletics, skipping and maintaining a mini garden at home.