CONNECTED BY A 24×7 LOOP TO ENSURE TIMELY DELIVERY
Pendota Shashi Chandra is happy for the equal weightage given to quality, safety, and progress at L&T for he believes that no other construction company in India focuses on these three aspects. At the Timely Delivery award winning Mumbai Nagpur Expressway project, his responsibility as QA/QC Manager was to control quality related to pavement layers – mix designs, trial stretches, QC on production, field tests and other tests as per plan. Proud of their success, he attributes it to “an outstanding team instead of outstanding individuals. Under the dynamic leadership of our Project Director, R. Srinivas sir, all of us were connected in a 24×7 loop, to ensure progress and address any issue at its nascent stage. A special mention to all my junior colleagues in the team who owned responsibility of every task given to them,” he says with the satisfaction of a job well done.
Referring to some of their specific challenges, Shashi mentions that they had to lay the entire PQC in dusk-to-dawn operations to avoid being influenced by weather fluctuations and ensure the quality of the rigid pavement. Having to deal with a humongous quantum of earthwork, the team meticulously monitored the consumption of borrow earth and accordingly planned approvals of approximately 300 borrow areas. “Since the approvals were obtained well in advance, earthwork quantity was never a bottleneck during construction,” he laughs. “The tagline “First time right” was embedded into the mind of every employee and this approach not only tackled quality issues but set L&T apart from other competitors in the adjacent packages that earned high appreciation from the client.”
To construct approximately 102 km of boundary walls, the team used an accelerator chemical admixture for early strength, reduced cycle time and avoided non-conformance and rework. “In the precast girders, we used a concrete mix design (M50 grade) with micro-silica that reduced the cycle-time to erect girders after casting,” he mentions.
A native of Warangal, Telangana, Shashi is wedded to Kalpana Devi, a homemaker, and they are blessed with one son, Vihaan. “At this point, I want to thank my father, P Ravindra Chary and mother, P Vasantha Devi for being my strength to succeed in my professional life,” he says with feeling. “I love to listen to music, dance and read novels when I get the time for such pursuits, especially on weekends,” he smiles and then adds with immense pride that his life’s most memorable moment was watching the honourable Prime Minister of India inaugurating his second project. His first with L&T was the Ghoshpukur Salsalabari Road project.
You do what you can for as long as you can, and when you finally cannot, you do the next best thing but never give up. G Soumen at the Timely Delivery award-winning Mumbai Nagpur Expressway project has proved that it is all about constantly forging ahead without stopping, whatever be the challenges. He always believed that he can and, he was already halfway there. “It was challenging to maintain ‘Zero Breakdown’ machine hours to support the fast-track project,” he says seriously.“We performed scheduled maintenance on all major machinery as needed and the combination of predictive and machine experience contributed to our success,” he remarks rousingly.
Soumen and team can take heart that over the course of the entire project of some 4,000+ machine months, they ensured that no machine failures disrupted the progress of the project. “A special team within P&M, along with a mobile maintenance van, guaranteed assistance to the machinery within 60 minutes,” he says forcefully.
Soumen attributes much of their success to efficiently deploying electrical utility shifting agencies, completing highway illumination, establishing electrical connections at the toll plazas, and arranging solar lighting on schedule, with digital solutions like the ‘Shield’ App helping them daily. The pandemic, he recalls, had threatened to disrupt progress but they held strong and delivered. “We were a great team standing together as one with great leadership and with each member taking personal responsibility to complete the tasks assigned to them,” he shares about their team bonding. “What also helped to drive progress was our regular review meetings with seniors,” he adds.
His prior experience with L&T includes working at the Bangalore International Airport project, Beawar Pali Pindwara, and Sambalpur Rourkela road projects. From Jajapur, Odisha, Soumen is married to Ananya Swain, a homemaker. Besides being a hard-working L&T employee, he is passionate about cooking and traveling and tries to sharpen his culinary skills over weekends. His eyes light up when he recalls the memory of gifting his father a mobile phone from his salary.
“What impresses me most about working at L&T is the freedom of work you enjoy in your own area,” he declares with determination in his eyes.
Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. Here’s to Soumen for proving that winners never quit, and quitters never win.
READY TO CLIMB THE LADDER
TO GREATER HEIGHTS
Priyadarshan Shanmugasundaram
Assistant Construction Manager – QS & Design Coordinator, RREC
Priyadarshan Shanmugasundaram could not have dreamt of a better start to his career than being at the Mumbai Nagpur Expressway project with a crack team that won the Timely Delivery Award. A PGET from NICMAR, he did his best to fulfil his responsibilities as a Design Coordinator and Quantity Surveyor using all the available modern tools and techniques, guided and encouraged to take up new challenges to play his dual role. “I regularly coordinated with my peers in other departments and tried to understand their perspectives to prepare for design and corresponding challenges in the construction phase,” he says, with the josh of a newcomer.
Understanding the entire process put Priyadarshan on a better wicket to identify changes and variations, prepare them with the support of his seniors, and obtain approvals to complete the work on time. “Maintaining cordial relations with the client helped me to get the approvals of Change Orders without impacting overall time of project completion,” he smiles. Obtaining approvals from the railway authorities for the ROB was critical for the project. The team ensured timely submission of the relevant designs and documents and clarification of all queries that fast tracked both approvals and construction. “It was a joint effort by the EDRC design, CMPC and site teams.”
Another learning for Priyadarshan was quick processing in a fasttracked project, that meant meeting with the client’s representatives and convincing them about the claims. “As a part of the Change request, I was extensively involved in working out the BOQs and preparing comparison statements with drawings to support our claims,” he adds.
He is thankful to Project Director Rongali Srinivas, “for giving me an opportunity to explore and expand my potential. His encouragement and support have helped me grow.” Priyadarshan is equally grateful for support from Abhinav Agarwal, his incharge, Contract Manager, Sachin Jadav and all his peers. “My seniors have showered me with their experience and knowledge which have made me what I am today. As I move up the ladder, I shall carry forward the way of giving back to my subordinates,” he avers.
He is overjoyed on his personal front as his wife, Mukhila, who has completed her B.E. Civil Engineering and is searching for a job, and he were recently blessed with a baby girl, Dhisaa. “I am a fitness freak, managing my workouts in the gym, and enjoy every moment I spend with my daughter and wife. My parents have always been my pillars of support,” he reminds.
TAKING ON MORE TO DELIVER ON TIME
Sathvic S Shetty
Executive Accounts (RREC)
While the pandemic disrupted lives across the globe, in some cases, as in the case of Sathvic Shetty, it put additional pressure and responsibilities on him to deliver. That he was able to withstand the pressure and shoulder all his responsibilities admirably are reasons why the Mumbai Nagpur Expressway was speedily delivered ahead of time.
Retaining workmen was one of his biggest challenges. “It was critical to create a safe working environment, be clear and transparent in our communication and ensure that the workmen got what they needed,” he recalls. “I was available all the time wherever my presence was required.” Maintaining healthy relations with the workmen not only helped to retain them but the team won the confidence of the contractors in the process to mobilize new workmen. NOC for borrow areas was another serious roadblock that were obtained with close follow-up and compliance as per the requirements of DG-Mines and the District Administration.
The pandemic is now a bad memory and the project delivered, but the huge effort of L&T-ites like Sathvic are not easily forgotten. “Rongali Srinivas, our Project Director, gave me additional responsibilities to handle workmen during the pandemic and obtain NOC compliances for the borrow areas, guiding me whenever I needed handholding,” he says gratefully. Sathvic flags off P V Santhosh Kumar, the project accountant too, for giving him the freedom to carry out his responsibilities and supporting all his decisions in the interest of the project.
Making Sathvic’s life easier were digital solutions like WISA through which the team maintained workmen details like their skill sets, banking and Aadhaar details. “This also helped us to win their confidence that we care for them,” he remarks with a smile, adding that the implementation of RTR helped the team to maintain zero LTI at site. Proud of having delivered a great project, Sathvic is equally proud of working for L&T where he has been involved in three projects thus far. “The leadership with well-established values and ethics is driving this company successfully for years to become nation builders and one of my most memorable moments is when I was selected by L&T.”
Sathvic hails from Sringeri in Karnataka’s Chikkamagaluru district. He is still single, and his mom’s name is Sujatha. “I play badminton, volleyball, table tennis and participate in social causes and CSR activities with NGOs,” he says with a warm smile.
Sawant Bhagwat started his journey with L&T at the Hospet Chitradurga Road Project in Karnataka before moving to the Timely Delivery Award-winning Mumbai Nagpur Expressway Project. “We succeeded primarily because of our collaborative problemsolving,” he emphasizes, “working as a team with our seniors and the management supporting us to the hilt. Every team member has unique gifts, talents, and skills and we bring them to the table for a common purpose. The results were very positive with increased productivity, fewer mistakes and expanded creativity,” he reveals.
About MNEP, he informs that their requirement was approximately 45 lakh MT material including 12 lakh MT of granular sub-base material and 23 lakh MT of aggregates, operating with five crusher plants and three quarry sources. “However, as we progressed, we encountered difficulties at different levels – local, political and other external factors – due to which we put up two additional crusher plants and a new quarry to fast-track progress.” Sawant is happy that this quick situational reassessment, and timely decision-making helped them deliver on time. “With continuous strict monitoring and control of the crushing operations, along with the planning department, we ensured that the fraction-wise requirements were readily available as per the project progress plan.”
Sawant and his team had to overcome several other speed breakers, a major one being liaising with the local villagers that was handled by a separate task force team, acting smartly with instant solutions to ensure that the crusher operations ran round the clock. By taking care of their welfare during the times of the pandemic and continuous training, the team had enough workers with the right skills for right work at the right time to speed up construction and make up for time lost due to the lockdowns.
Digital solutions, according to him, help drive a culture of quality and safety at the workplace. “Digitalization has made us more productive, we save time and money, and can easily demonstrate commitment to safety at site,” says Sawant. “There is greater accountability, high traceability, a rigorous approval process and overall, projects have a much higher level of visibility. Leaders have the information they need on their fingertips,” he says, snapping his fingers.
For Sawant, L&T stands for ‘Learning & Training’ and since L&T makes things that make India proud, he is a proud Indian to be making it happen. From Solapur, Maharashtra, Sawant is married to Ashwini, a homemaker, and loves to travel and trek when he finds the time for such pursuits.
ENJOYING WORKING FOR A COMPANY THAT CARES
Dhiraj Kumar Mishra
Assistant Supervisor, RREC
Dhiraj Kumar is 4 projects old with L&T having thus far worked on the Halol Godhara Samblaji, Beawar Pali Pindwara, and Kanaktora Jharsuguda road projects but it is perhaps his stint at his 4th project, taking care of logistics, that has been most rewarding. “The most memorable and precious moment of my career was when the Mumbai Nagpur Expressway was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India,” he shares delightedly; that the project won the Timely Delivery award is an icing on Dhiraj’s cake.
One of the team’s major considerations was to transport the huge quantity of 45 lakh MT of GSB & aggregates and 12.5 lakh cum of concrete from source to destination across a greenfield stretch. “We focused on identifying stock yards with optimum haulage, resource levelling, and subcontract management to address this issue and utilized our resources to the optimum by transporting GSB & aggregates during the day and PQC during the nights,” he mentions. This clever ploy ensured that the sub-contractors, who were initially reluctant to engage their vehicles during the day, were retained at project site that went a long way to achieve their target milestones.
The major issues that cropped up with the local villagers required delicate handling to maintain progress. One major problem was running their vehicles on farms since the team was constructing on a greenfield stretch. Facing huge opposition from the villagers, the team built access roads and constantly maintained these roads by sprinkling water on them to keep them smooth.
“Working on this project was a great experience for me as right from the start, our Project Director, Srinivas Rongali and the entire execution team helped me to understand the scope of the project and how to plan for the requirements,” he says gratefully. He was thankful for the continuous reviews with the planning, quarry crusher and quality teams too that helped him meet his commitments. Installing GPS on all owned & hired assets for real time tracking, Asset Insight, and the RTR (Reverse the risk) App were some of the digital solutions used at site.
A native of Muzaffarpur, Bihar, Dhiraj is married to Snehi, a homemaker, and they are blessed with two sons, Mayank and Arnav. Playing cricket and listening to music are what relaxes him.
“L&T has given me continuous opportunities to grow and develop my career with regular training and development programmes,” Dhiraj proudly shares, “and it is a Company that takes care of its people like during the pandemic.”
