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Apoorva Dholakia is part of the prestigious Mumbai Coastal Road Project – Package 1, responsible for the construction of the sea wall and reclamation. “These are two crucial activities and since we had to complete a lot of work before the severe Mumbai monsoons set in, our client, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, arranged special permissions for us to continue working even during the lockdown,” he explains. “We went through many challenges during that period and we had to be very vigilant to ensure that our workmen took all the necessary precautions to remain safe. We continuously advised and encouraged them with the result they put in their best effort for us,” says a pleased Apoorva.

He has been associated with L&T for a decade since September 2010 having spent the first seven years with the Power IC. “I worked on two state government power projects (2×600 MW) where I was responsible for the construction of the chimneys, cooling towers, all plant and non-plant buildings.” He pauses for a moment as if recalling a moment and continues, “Safely completing the construction of one of our chimneys that rose to a height of 275 m using slip form was one of the most memorable moments of my life,” he enthuses. “It was my first project with L&T and of my construction career. It was a gigantic structure and we were all very proud after its construction,” he says, eyes shining.

After the unlock, Apoorva and his team had to push the pedal for quicker progress. “We planned our activities and with continuous follow ups and support from our contractors and all our in-house departments, we achieved maximum progress in the seawall and reclamation. We micro-planned to achieve progress with work planned according to the tides, effectively utilizing our resources. The checking of work done was planned a day before so that all Requests for Inspection could be raised, and the checking carried out the next day.” Apoorva acknowledges the excellent leadership and support from the seniors and his team members for their success and singles out Project Director, Rakesh Sisodia Sir, Suhas Deshpande Sir, and K S Bhat Sir for special mention.

NEVER TAKING HIS EYES OFF THE BALL

Though near a containment zone, the client helped with all approvals to keep the site running while the team religiously followed all COVID-related SOPs. “A material receiving point was fixed for vendors near the main entry, we coordinated with prominent vendors to identify the lead time for materials and planned our activities accordingly. We had daily checklists signed by the client and us for more transparent monitoring.” A ‘Chill Out’ period for 15-20 minutes in every shift for the workmen and employees did wonders to morale, he smiles, when everyone gathered to discuss and share views on various aspects of site activity. “All this was possible only thanks to the immense support and contribution of our seniors,” says Vikash with utter conviction. “Our team members also put in extraordinary effort and right through have demonstrated great teamwork!”

Apart from cricket, he loves to read and, even better, to spend time with his wife, Preeti, a homemaker, daughter, Prioska and newly born son whom he is yet to name.

“I am proud to be a part of the L&T family because for me, it is my dream come true!”

Bengaluru is notorious for its traffic and therefore when the lockdown swept the roads clear of all vehicles, it was a most opportune time for Koilraj and team to complete road and utility diversions. “During the lockdown we diverted three major roads – the Meenakshi Koil Road in Shivaji Nagar station, the Cubbon Road in MG Road station and the Hosur Road in Vellara station. In addition, we completed the utility diversions like BESCOM 11 KV cables, BWSSB water lines, BSNL cupper & Defence OFC cables on the road to do our piling works for the stations.” Both these tasks of road and utility diversions require close coordination with a host of government authorities like BMRCL, BWSSB, BESCOM, BBMP, BSNL, traffic police, Defence authorities. “Due to the pandemic, the entry of outsiders was restricted into their offices and the approval process very slow but due to our persistence and constant follow-ups, we obtained the required permissions to carry out the work,” Koilraj shares with a sense of having done it.

“Continuing to work during the lockdown, we completed the road crossing station box in the Shivaji Nagar station, the Cubbon Road crossing entrance at the MG Road station, the Hosur road crossing entrance at Vellara Station and in the process, saved more than 6 months in our overall schedule,” he smiles triumphantly. “Government authorities like BWSSB, BESCOM, BSNL normally require lengthy diversions of their utilities so I did a feasibility study and prepared a unique, alternate diversion plan that reduced the length and lead-time of diversion work which has worked out well.”

Koilraj loves to listen to music during his free time but “do so very rarely these days,” he says with a long face. His wife, Dency Pon Jon is a homemaker and they are blessed with two children, daughter Masilin Jency and son, Kevin Gnanaraja. On a sober note, he shares, “God has given me a differently abled child and I use every moment I get for his development.”

“L&T develops the nation in all aspects and therefore it is my pride to be a part of this great organization,” he signs off positively.

It is obvious that the Bangalore Metro project RT – 02 where Ajay Movva is presently working has had a huge impression on him. “My life can be described as before joining this project and thereafter because every moment here has been a learning experience,” he shares with all sincerity. “I am extremely thankful to my Project Manager, Mr. Vivek Maruti Pai, from whom I learnt the importance of giving meticulous attention to detail that is so crucial from an EHS perspective. He has proved to me that Leadership is action; not a position.” Ajay is appreciative of his reporting manager Mr. Srinivasa Rao V and his other colleagues at site too for their support and contribution to succeed in his efforts.

Ajay is extremely happy about his project’s EHS performance till date. “We have achieved 3 Million Safe Man Hours till date and won two cluster quarterly EHS awards for maintaining occupational hygiene and ensuring safety measures while using concrete bucket respectively,” his smile saying a lot of how he feels.

His smile fades as the conversation turns to the issue at hand: keeping his people at site safe from COVID-19. “Oh yes, we have had some major challenges,” he nods. “Motivating our workmen to strictly follow the regulations and observing SOPs at ground level have been tough.” He mentions some of the other measures they have taken like regular workmen camp inspections, yoga sessions, safety awareness training sessions every evening at camps, always using masks, practicing social distancing and closely monitoring the same to meet the new normal requirements. “By ensuring different proactive measures at base level, by spreading awareness and educating all our workmen clearly about the precautionary measures to be taken, we have recorded only a minimum number of positive cases till date,” he informs.

Ajay says that he has received dynamic support from the project leadership and team. “They have always acted with urgency, communicated with transparency, responded productively to ensure safety of all persons at the project and constantly updated information for the front-line warriors. It has been an honor to be part of such a team that follows the Project Manager’s vision to be innovative, constantly creating value and attaining global benchmarks.”

During these days of the pandemic, the pressure on EHS personnel like R Karthikeyan at the Bangalore Metro project – Phase 2 (RT 03) has increased exponentially with the health and safety of employees and workmen assuming critical importance. “For me, it was even more important as my colleagues and workmen face different health risks depending on the type of work they do, for instance casting and handling of underground tunnel segments, fabrication works and the like,” he shares, highlighting his challenges. “Now, more than ever, it was essential to monitor the health of workmen to check for COVID symptoms. I regularly visit the labour camp and liaise with the doctor for daily workmen check-ups.” In fact, as part of the Emergency Response Team, he has been continuously monitoring and assessing the health & safety in both the labour camp and the project site and maintaining effective and continuous communication with the project team and client.

Karthikeyan has been at the Peenya Casting Yard since 2019 that is targeting to cast 3,244 tunnel segment rings. “Previously I worked in the Blast Furnace -3 Upgradation Project (MMH, JSW, Bellary) between 2018 and 2019 as Assistant Manager – EHS responsible for the safety of employees and workmen in the fabrication of structural works,” he mentions.

The pressure is constant, he says. “Ever since the unlock, the engineer from the client, BMRCL, has been regularly visiting the labour camp to monitor the safety measures & practices we follow. I have identified and recorded COVID-19 related risks in the EHS Risk Assessment (BMRCL/IM-12 A) and ensured a safe working environment to help achieve our targets in line with the SOPs.” Apart from external agency disinfection, he organises daily in-house sanitization before the start of each shift, implements disinfection of the tunnel for the workmen and maintains health cards for the workmen. “The introduction of VR training in the safety app has proved to be extremely useful for workmen during the safety induction,” he nods, adding, “getting them to experience real world hazards without exposing them to realworld dangers is a great advantage.”

Born and brought up in Chennai, Karthikeyan is still single, with a love for playing cricket, listening to songs, and following sports. “About my family, my father is Chief Plant Manager at IOCL, my mother a homemaker and my brother an Engineer at WSP.” Most of his lovely memories are about celebrations during festivals.

In conclusion he declares, “I am proud to be a part of L&T as we are recognised as the ‘Nation Building Organization’, continuously achieving great milestones!”

Mumbai city has been an EHS professional’s nightmare and with the onset of the pandemic it has become even more so. For Pradeep Gopalapillai at the Mumbai Coastal Road Project (Package 1), the challenges are more severe as the project never had a complete lockdown. “All of Mumbai was shut down but we continued to do some critical work with the client’s permission to prepare for the monsoons,” explains Pradeep. “There were so many restrictions to follow either while travelling or when working at site. At every point, we had to ensure that all the SOPs were followed, and all safety precautions taken.”

A veteran of several projects, his last being the Mandovi Cable Stay Bridge in Goa, one of Pradeep’s first tasks was to identify the COVID positive work force at an early stage to prevent mass transmission. “We successfully prevented the spread of the pandemic by effectively implementing all the COVID-19 preventive measures such as ensuring sufficient number of foot operated hand sanitizers, masks for all, cleanliness, and disinfection of equipment and areas where mass transmission hazards existed.” He arranged for a face recognition machine at site to mark attendance instead of the finger punching machine.

Hardly a year into his career as a Graduate Commercial Trainee of the 2019 batch, R Roopesh, presently working at his first project, the Bangalore UG Metro RT-03, has been plunged into managing activities to keep his project safe from COVID-19 and, at the same time, return to high gear. As a Supervisor in the Administration & IR department, his responsibilities are primarily twofold: ensure that the personnel, employees and workmen, at the site are well looked after and plan and implement measures to restart operations.

“Once the city unlocked, I had three major responsibilities,” explains Roopesh. “Firstly, labour re-mobilization by coordinating with the supervisors of the different contractors and gain their confidence to mobilize workmen. Secondly, to restart work at site, I had to obtain the necessary permissions from different government authorities and thirdly, I had to oversee and ensure amenities for our workmen in the camp. I arranged for 500+ ration kits to our workmen with the help of the labour department.”

It is his onus to strictly and regularly follow all SOPs stipulated by the GOI, L&T and the client. “Our daily checklists as per the SOPs jointly signed by the client makes monitoring more transparent,” he elaborates. Transportation facilities have been arranged for the workmen maintaining social distance measures to ensure no loss of working time and smooth project progress. “We have arranged frequent medical check-ups to make sure that our workmen are healthy and safe before engaging them in work.”

In addition, Roopesh organizes for the thermal screening of workmen, arranges PPE equipment for all, spreads awareness, fumigates and sanitizes all premises, arranges for food from hotels and hygienic canteens, transfers positive cases to quarantine centres and arranges e-passes for staff and workmen.

Surely, Roopesh cannot be achieving all this alone and he is extremely thankful to his seniors and his Project Manager for their support and guidance. “They have given me the courage to perform while my colleagues have helped me by doing their share of work and we have also mutually agreed to share each other’s workload.”