TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE IC
Tej Bahadur Singh,
Project Manager – RREC
“My family has always stood by me throughout my career and during the most difficult of times,” shares Tej Bahadur Singh. “Even in the present unprecedented times, though they were worried about my health, they fully supported my decision to lead the team, as it boosted the morale of staff and workmen. During these very difficult times, L&T has stood by us without shirking from their responsibility to serve the nation and their people. Similarly, when the pandemic broke out, it created a fear psychosis among the workmen and staff and we stepped in to pacify their fears and make them feel that we were with them during these tough times.”
Tej is Project Manager for the 11-km long, Chandigarh-Kharar Elevated Corridor project that passes through the congested areas of Kharar (Mohali) city of Punjab. “I joined L&T in 1997,” he says, “and I have been associated with seven other projects starting with the Reliance Petroleum Limited, Jamnagar Refinery.” Thereafter, he was involved in the elevated Yamuna bridge project for Delhi Metro, Satara-Kolhapur Road project, Hyderabad Airport, Ahmedabad-Viramgam-Maliya Road, Amaravati-Jalgaon Road and the Delhi-Agra Road projects.
“All construction came to a halt on March 22nd and we had several challenges to face like obtaining curfew passes or permits from the District Administration for restricted movement which was vital to provide basic essentials to our workmen and staff. We closely monitored the health of all at site and impressed upon the workmen to take all the necessary precautionary measures.”
The team strove to create and maintain a good and positive atmosphere at site and keep a high standard of hygiene. Another key consideration for the team was to retain the migrant labour so that they could start as soon as the lockdown was relaxed.
“Our good work has enabled us to resume operations on 21st April strictly following all the SOPs,” he states. “Our top management constantly motivated us through online meetings, always guiding us. The immediate allocation of the emergency COVID-19 fund came in very useful to procure groceries, masks, sanitizers, soaps and PPE Kits. Even after resumption of construction work, the team members are standing up to the challenge of executing work at site during lockdown conditions strictly following all the preventive measures,” he reassures.
Tej’s native is Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh. His better half is Sushma, a homemaker, and they are blessed with two children, Ajay and Ayush. Their births are what Tej cherishes most. “I like listening to music and reading books. During the lockdown, I managed to find time to fulfil my hobbies,” he says with a laugh.
R Ramachandran,
Senior Manager – P&M (RREC)
The outbreak of COVID-19 and the resultant lockdown has caused huge headaches for P&M personnel like
R Ramachandran at the BSRP site, “Since our project is in a remote location, the moment the lockdown was announced our connectivity with Kolkata got cut and we largely depend on Kolkata for our running spare parts,” he begins. “Our next issue was the lack of skilled manpower because most of our workers were from the adjacent districts that were all locked down so they could not travel to site. Even keeping the minimum number of manpower that we had at site was another huge challenge.” As if these were not enough, Ramachandran and his team found that one of the hired piling machines got struck with only 2 piles left to be completed. “The hiring charge for the external piling rig was INR 16 lakhs, so we had to complete quickly and then de-hire the machine.” A couple of wheel loaders in commission were also suffering due to lack of spares. The last issue was that the work site was a bridge bang on the border between Odisha and Jharkhand; with the state borders sealed and state police on both sides, movement was almost impossible.
With so many roadblocks to overcome, Ramachandran, who has previously had three-year stints each at the Beawar-Pali-Pindwara and Sambalpur-Rourkela Road projects since joining L&T in 2012, rolled up his sleeves to address them. “With the help of the administration, we started rig operations in the night shift and completed 2 piles by maintaining piling tools and Kelly repair and released the piling rig within the lockdown period. In the meantime, the rig kelly cracked during the piling due to the hard strata,” he adds, wiping his brow. Next, they repaired the two owned wheel loaders with spare parts from Kolkata despite that city being a red zone. “We sanitized the parts carefully before use,” he says.
About the workmen, he says, “We motivated our workmen to stay by providing proper accommodation, different trainings and allowed them WhatsApp video calls to keep them active and busy. One staff was made responsible for 15 workmen, to look after them and keep them safe.” As soon as the team received the green signal to resume operations on 20th April, they successfully restarted all the equipment without major issues.
Hailing from Mayiladuthurai district in Tamil Nadu, Ramachandran’s life partner is B Srividya, a homemaker, who, as he shares, “has helped me a lot in carrying out my activities.” Their son, R Divesh is studying in 10th standard. “I usually spend about 45 minutes in the gym every morning,” he says and considering the hurdles he must overcome at work, it is a good pastime to have!
Dilip Choubey,
Senior Manager – Accounts (RREC)
His almost-white beard gives him a scholarly almost professorial look but Dilip Choubey is in the thick of action at his first project with L&T – the Veer to Bhogaon Khurd Road project (VBRP) stationed at Mahad in Maharashtra. It has been tough going for Dilip and his team ever since the lockdown began because as he shares, “a workman from the sub-contractor, Silas Estefan Logan, took ill on March 26th and was admitted to the KEM Hospital in Mumbai. Doctors confirmed that he was not a Corona case but a case of asthma. Unfortunately, he expired on 28th from pneumonia.” Despite the lockdown Dilip, accompanied by Anil Kumar Sharma (Admin & IR) travelled to Mumbai to complete the formalities which they did including cremating the body in Mumbai. “Returning to site with the ‘asthi’ of the deceased workman proved an ordeal for us as we were stopped at every check post and detained by the police till the morning without any food and water. We did all this because we owed it to young Silas,” shares Dilip emotionally.
Earlier, a false video of the patient breathing heavily started circulating in the small town of Mahad claiming that a L&T workman was COVID-19 positive. “From the midnight of 24th we received several calls from the local police stations, SDM, sarpanches and people about the video and on 25th they started creating a nuisance by not allowing to stay in their villages where our security, labour and RSW workmen were staying and to remain in our Office, camp and labour colony. We had to approach the District Magistrate and the SDM to sort out the matter and convince the authorities, the local reporters and the villagers about the truth,” says Dilip with a huge sigh of relief.
Apart from obtaining permission for the movement of essentials for the workmen, Dilip says that “during the lockdown, we took permissions from the District Administration to initiate the shifting and launching of girders at the Gandhari Major Bridge from April 7th and commenced earth works and structure works from April 10th.” His sense of achievement is obvious. “I am grateful to my seniors and my team members for their wholehearted support especially my IR, Admin and Accounts teams without whose help we could not have done much,” he says with gratitude.
Dilip hails from the village of Sonebersa in Buxar. His wife, Manju Devi is a homemaker and their three children are son, Abhishek, and daughters, Karishma and Shivani. “I enjoy good food and spending time with my family and what I remember most is receiving and handing over my first salary cheque in 1993 to my mother and the look of joy on her face,” he shares with a bright smile.
Jatindra Nath Khadanga,
Manager – Industrial Relations (RREC)
He is certainly a man who thrives in a crisis for Jatindra Nath Khadanga declares: “Probably these days of COVID-19 are some of the most memorable days of my professional career!” Currently associated with TI IC’s Ghoshpukur – Salsalabari Road project, his days are full addressing the multiple challenges that COVID-19 has thrown up for him and his team at site. “We face increasing shortage of workmen; many are not reporting for work due to fear of the virus and considering the situation, the sub-contractors are not too keen to push them,” he mentions, with a knowing nod. “We have been facing resistance from the locals to restart our construction activity and irrelevant and unrealistic demands from the workmen engaged initially after commencement of work at site.” The imposition of Section 144 by the state government and suspension of public transport restricted the mobility of workmen along the stretch and there have been several supply chain disruptions too.
“Our first task was to convince the workmen not to travel, that it was safer to remain in our labour camps. We provided for sufficient food rations, conducted periodic health check-ups, sanitized all premises, arranged for separate rooms for new workmen and distributed all the safety gears.” Jatindra mentions the use of WhatsApp to share communication and updates with the workmen. “We verified all our arrangements with the local District administration and health department authorities. They appreciated our initiatives that drew the attention of the local media and a detailed report was published both in print as well as the electronic media,” shares a very pleased Jatindra. At the same time, he agrees that it was a triumph of teamwork. “We were able to perform excellently thanks to the guidance and moral support of our Project Manager and Project Accountant. They gave us a free hand to take decisions for the betterment of the project as well as the organisation. I am also especially thankful to my seniors at cluster level as well as HQ,” he adds.
Jatindra joined L&T in 2008 and his first posting was at the Ahmedabad Viramgam Maliya Road Project after which he did a stint at the VIP Road flyover project till 2015 before moving to his present assignment. Hailing from Bhubaneswar, Odisha, Jatindra’s life partner, Saritanjali, understands him well and even sounds a little like him when she says, “I am not anxious that he will bring the infection home, but I certainly worry about his health.” They are blessed with one son, Jathwik. “I like gardening,” he smiles.
“Taking care of the employees, workmen, the society and the country at this time of the pandemic is a rare aspect and am proud to be an L&T’ite. I salute L&T!”
Mohan Chandra Joshi,
Manager – Industrial Relations (RREC)
“During the lockdown, being a core member and head of the COVID-19 response team of the site under the leadership of our Project Director, we were committed to provide all logistic support to the 730-odd workmen and 70 bachelors at site with sincerity and a sense of responsibility,” affirms Mohan Chandra Joshi (MCJ, for short), describing his role fighting the virus. Presently posted at TI IC’s Dwarka Expressway project, his first challenge once the lockdown was announced was to reach his site. “Since I am put up at Gurugram, I had to deal almost daily with the police and the district administration to let me through until I managed to get a pass from our client, NHAI/District Administration to move freely.”
MCJ and team had several diversified activities at site including daily cleaning, fumigation, maintenance of hygiene at the labour camp, thermal scanning, supply of rations, water and electricity and arranging for an ambulance. In addition, they frequently visited government offices or brought them over to visit and inspect the site. “I maintained very good relations with all administrative officers,” chips in MCJ, who also handles medical services. “I had to deal with some of the regular fever cases and to keep them motivated and safe from COVID-19 was a challenge,” he says. “We looked after these cases end to end, providing them with adequate medical cover through tie-ups with hospitals and facilitated daily visits of the Medical Officer and staff.”
“All my seniors encouraged, motivated and guided me throughout the lockdown period and appreciated my work,” shares a visibly satisfied MCJ. “Particularly, my Project Director, R K Mishra, Project Manager M K Singh, Cluster Admin Head, Amrit Lal Yadav, my colleagues, Harshmani from Accounts and Manoj Tiwari from EHS. In fact, the three of us, Harshmani, Manoj and myself worked jointly throughout the lockdown. They were available 24×7 throughout the crises,” he says and adds, “I should not forget to name my sub-ordinates who helped us day and night especially Ankit Singh, Sunil Kumar Singh and Suresh Pathak.”
MCJ joined L&T in 2006 as a Supervisor-IR and some of the major projects he has been associated with include IMCC JV (Phase – I of DMRC – ‘MC1B’), MTG JV (Phase II of DMRC ‘BC18 project’), SGRP and DARP. “I have a rural background, hailing from a small town in Uttarakhand,” he shares. “My wife, Ganga is a homemaker and both my sons, Gaurav & Saurav, are collegians. I stay with my aged mother,” he adds. “Although initially, my wife supported my efforts soon she started to get scared as the number of positive cases rose in Delhi NCR and did not want me to expose myself but with much convincing they have allowed me to continue and discharge my duties.”
Yobu Paul,
Manager – Systems (TI IC)
As soon as the COVID-19 induced national lockdown was announced, everyone started to scramble to shift their offices to their homes so that work could continue without too much interruption and IT professionals like Yobu Paul swung into action to make this possible. “Our responsibility was to provide remote desktop support for all the TI IC employees in a short time, ensure the availability of hardware like laptops for the junior cadre staff and provide desktops at home, wherever laptops were not available,” shares Yobu. “Working from home was new to many of my colleagues but with our help and prompt action, they have been able to adjust quickly, and work has continued fairly uninterrupted.”
Yobu and his team’s actions brought about the required changes. “Uninterrupted virtual meetings were arranged through MS Teams & Zoom,” he points out, “and we facilitated access to data available in shared file servers and internet security is through Zscaler application. There were also some lively webinar sessions that we arranged accommodating more than 2500 employees,” he says with a smile and then adds seriously, “Digital data security has been applied in all the VPN enabled devices and internet access is restricted to users to safeguard our company data across diversified platforms.”
About his association with L&T, Yobu shares that he joined the company as a contract employee at the Kattupalli Port project in 2010 as an ISD coordinator. “A year later, I was moved to TI IC at Mumbai as the IC ISD coordinator. All along, my seniors have been extremely supportive and have always given me full freedom to work,” he says with a satisfied look. “When the initial phase of the lockdown was announced, my entire team started working vigorously to ensure smooth functioning of work from home for all the employees. With limited IT infrastructure, we managed to support our EDRC and other department users by enabling them with VPN access and we have successfully enabled access for 150 users during the lockdown.”
On his home front, Yobu’s wife is Gayathri, who is worried about him as he is away from home during these tough times “but she is also proud of what I am doing,” Yobu chips in and they are blessed with one child, Benny. “Whenever I get free time, I watch news, listen to music and play badminton. During WFH I have found it hard to make time to do any extra activities.”
“When many companies have been slashing salaries and laying off employees, L&T is an organization that has cared and supported the wellbeing of their employees,” he rounds off proud of the company he keeps.
Shardindu Tiwari,
Manager – Industrial Relations (RREC)
“During the lockdown, I was made the nodal point for all logistic support,” states Shardindu Tiwari sincerely and with a sense of responsibility. “We had two jeep mounted maintenance vehicles and an ambulance with passes provided by the Client to move from 7 am to 12 midnight across various locations including site and the labour camps to meet requirements like that of essential commodities, food, medicine, PPEs, etc. or carry out any emergency work,” he explains. The reason why he explains this situation is because as soon as the lockdown was announced, he faced unending difficulties to reach his worksite as he was residing in Noida and crossing the border from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi and back was extremely difficult. “Several times, I was in danger of getting my vehicle imponded at check posts,” he shares, “and this is after trying to convince the police that my presence at site was very important to look after the welfare of 500-odd workman and 26 staff.”
He is presently associated at the Pragati Maidan Project in Delhi that involves the construction of an Integrated Transit Corridor Development Plan in and around Pragati Maidan. “I joined L&T (TI IC) at this very project in October 2017 as Manager – IR. I was then transferred to the Karad – Halwak Road Project in January 2018 but in Dec 2018, I was transferred back here for 2nd time as IR Manager and have been here ever since,” explaining his return to the project.
Shardindu’s plate is full ever since the virus broke out. There is daily cleaning, fumigation, and maintenance of hygiene at the labour camp, thermal scanning, supply of rations, water and electricity and ambulance. “We visit the government offices from time to time to arrange or usher them to visit and inspect our site,” he ticks off his list of duties. “We also constantly liaise with the police teams.” He is grateful for his seniors for their guidance and motivation. “They have appreciated my good work,” he says with a smile, “and have supported me especially my Chief Project Manager, Ajay Kumar Asthana, Cluster Admin Head, Amrit Lal Yadav and Project Accountant, Pratha Pratim Chatterjee.”
On his personal front, Shardindu says he comes from a small town in Bihar named Arrah. “My wife, Nitu is a teacher in a private school in Noida and I have two children, daughter, Arya and son, Anay. Initially, my wife supported my efforts but later as the positive cases in Delhi rose, she was against me going out fearing that our children would get infected but I must thank my family for standing behind me to allow me to discharge my duties fully,” he says with gratitude.
Anil Kumar Sharma,
Manager IR (RREC)
While for many, the lockdown meant being stuck at home, there are many for whom life went into overdrive as new responsibilities were put on their shoulders to keep things moving. The IR folk have been one such lot for whom the lockdown has posed several tough questions and Anil Sharma, at the Veer (Wadpale) -Bhogaon Khurd Project (VBRP), will agree completely. “We initiated a series of proactive preventive measures for the wellbeing and safety of our staff and workmen,” he prefaces, “including Permission to Start work from the District Magistrate during the first lock down period from 7th April.” Anil and his team successfully obtained passes/permissions for seven vehicles from the very first day of the lockdown to monitor the health and movement of their workforce.
“Some of our daily measures included pep talks on do’s and don’ts, displaying awareness posters at office, guest houses, workmen habitant and sites and explaining how to maintain hygiene and social distancing to prevent the virus,” he informs. “Since our project is in a rural area, bulk food material was not available. We therefore took the District administration’s help to arrange for food for the workmen.” Other steps taken by Anil and his team included regular temperature screening of all at site or office, installing a disinfection tunnel at the entry gate and motivating all the employees and workmen to install the Arogya Setu App as per the guidelines of the government.
Anil is grateful to his seniors for their support and guidance, “especially, my senior Dilip Choubey, Manas Ranjan Panda and Ms Poonam Chandok for recognizing my contribution which has given my confidence and my morale a huge boost to work even harder in this fight against COVID-19!” A visibly charged Anil acknowledges the support of his team members too in the process. “Without their cooperation and dedication towards the work we could not have achieved our goal,” he says sincerely.
Anil, who is at his second project with L&T at VBRP after an initial stint at the Mumbai-Vadodara Expressway project, hails from Delhi and is married to Anjali, a homemaker, and they have a son, Rahul. ‘They were initially not in favour of me exposing myself to the virus but I explained to them my responsibility and duty at this crucial time and gradually they were convinced,” he says seriously. Lightening up, he shares, “My most memorable moment was during my school days when I was selected as the school cricket team captain. We participated in many inter school sports events and won many cricket tournaments and praise from my Principal, Class teacher, Classmates and my family and specially, from my sweet mom,” he laughs recalling ‘those’ days.
D Sathish Koti,
Manager – Administration (RREC)
A Warrior from the armed forces, he is now a Corona Warrior at TI IC’s Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway project, leading his team to keep his people safe and prepare his site to resume operations. D Sathish Koti is ex-Indian Air Force, been part of Operation Vijay at Kargil and has won several appreciations and commendations at various levels. “To lead Operation COVID-19, I first formed a COVID-19 group, distributed tasks sector wise for better and effective control and then went about building my team’s confidence,” he says with all the vigour of preparing for battle. “Considering the unpredictability of the situation, it was our responsibility to counsel the staff and workmen, create awareness among them, keep giving them regular and genuine updates and assure them that the company will do the best for them.” He smiles with a thumbs up and says, “my team stood by me through thick and thin and we have delivered handsomely!”
Providing medical health was another Herculean task since all the hospitals were out of bounds. “We finally managed to convince the district health officials from a nearby local private hospital to give us medical support. It was equally important for us to obtain the permit to restart operations for which we had to shuttle between several offices but finally received it on 3rd April,” he says with a huge sense of achievement. “To prepare for resumption, we started engaging with the local villagers along the alignment. We explained the importance of restarting to the community leaders and took them into confidence. We even distributed PPEs and ration kits to them.” In addition, he had brain storming sessions to explore ways to plug the spread of the virus, ensured uninterrupted supply of groceries, set up quarantine facilities and, “I personally met with government officials like the District Collector, RDC, ADC, Tehsildar, SP (Aurangabad Rural), CP (Aurangabad City) to apprise them of the actions taken by the management,” he adds.
Sathish shares an incident of a staff member who wanted to be with his critically ill mother. “Along with Girish Nadiyal, we knocked almost all the doors of the district administration and finally succeed to help him reach his destination and see his mother before she passed away.” He adds, “The support and advice I have been receiving from my PM, Rongali Srinivas and Sudeep Malakar at HQ level have been my driving force to venture into these unknown waters.”
From Hyderabad, Telangana, Sathish’s better half is D Jyoti who is an English Educator and they are blessed with a daughter D Amrutha. “The first sight of her was my most memorable moment,” shares Sathish emotionally. “She has given a whole new perspective to my life.” He loves trekking and taking off on long drives with his family.
“With my face masked, the L&T jacket was my only identity and I am proud to be playing my part in this incredible organization made up of incredible people,” he salutes his company!
Vijay Nand Choudhary,
Assistant Manager – Accounts (RREC)
True to his name that means ‘Victory’, RREC’s Vijay Nand Choudhary is an optimist and is sure that L&T will be back to its winning ways soon. “The employees and workmen of L&T are caring in all respects which is evident during these tough days of COVID-19,” says Vijay, “and we will definitely be back on track very soon with the determination of my colleagues. I am sure that all of us are putting in our best efforts to improve the situation and achieve our FY targets to make us stand out in the industry,” he declares with a surety and purposefulness that are remarkable.
After joining L&T in 2014, Vijay’s first posting was at the 165-km long Sambalpur-Rourkela Road project after which he moved to his present posting at the Baharagora-Singhara Road project in the Accounts and Administration department. “Not only is our project in a remote location but it is right at the border between West Bengal and Jharkhand and therefore our main challenge was to stop our 700-strong labour force from crossing the border,” he explains. “Our other problem was the scarcity of manpower. Since the borders were sealed and the neighbouring districts all locked down, we could not get skilled manpower as they were all in these neighbouring villages. An even bigger problem has been to mobilize manpower to resume operations.” On top of all this, the team had hired a Rig Machine for piling work inside the river and concreting during the lockdown. “Monthly hiring charges of the machine was INR 16 lakhs and we were worried whether it would remain unused because of the lack of manpower. However, after taking the necessary permissions from the border police, a challenge in itself, we were able to mobilise skilled manpower and did some remarkable work that was appreciated by our client.”
Vijay and team then turned their attention to aspects that were under their control. “We motivated the workforce with good pep talks, ensured the ready supply of rations, sanitizers, soaps, handwashes, conducted Yoga sessions and provided various kinds of training,” he says. “We made one staff responsible for each contractor who would keep a close watch over them daily to ensure that they remained safe.” Vijay adds, “My site Project Manager, Project Accountant & IR head (HQ) helped me by providing all the necessary guidelines and resources and our team members executed well,” he says with a thumbs up.
Vijay’s native place is the village of Sabour, in the Bhagalpur district of Bihar. His wife, Renna is a homemaker and their two children Akash and Ranu are studying in 11th and 6th standards, respectively. “I love reading and sleeping during my free time,” he laughs.
Bibhuti Bhushan Mishra,
Assistant Manager – Systems (TI-IC)
The lockdown has made Bibhuti Mishra and his ilk the ‘go to’ men with action shifting to homes as corporate India accepts the principle of ‘Work From Home’ in a big way. Currently posted in TI IC’s Mumbai office, Bibhuti had some early challenges. “We had to enable the IT infrastructure for a team of 150 – 200 Design Engineers to help them work from home, ensuring business as usual and provide IT support for staff members over the phone, without having physical access to their systems.”
Quickly understanding what was expected of him, Bibhuti got down to action. “Within an hour of the declaration of the lockdown, we had planned and executed a massive exercise of mobilizing IT hardware (desktops & laptops) to individual houses and guesthouses for teams to work from home,” he shares with a definite sense of purpose. “We then set up a VPN for users to access their database remotely again in a day’s time. In fact,” he adds, “we had started using Teams Webinars quite early, in March itself, to engage with a broad audience and conducted dedicated training on various IT & Digital solutions.”
Of course, there were challenges, agrees Bibhuti; after all, what is life without them! “There were specific IT challenges like some people unable to connect or access details. However, they understood the limitations of online support and helped in all possible ways to ensure that all issues were resolved at the earliest.” He is thankful for the support of his team members too. “There has been complete support from my seniors as well as my team members. We successfully shifted to WFH operations, literally in less than a day,” he smiles, proud of their collective effort and achievement. “MS Teams has been our most critical tool to conduct all our operations,” sharing about the digital solutions embraced. “We use Zscaler as VPN for remote access to the file server, Microsoft Azure as a platform for non-domain users to be a part of our domain and facilitate them with all our on premise services with safety and security as well.”
“I come from India’s Steel City, Jamshedpur,” he declares. In fact, he was initially posted at the Tata Steel Kalinganagar project as part of MMH SBG, from where he was transferred to TI IC’s Bahragora Singhara Road project before coming to the COVID-19 hot zone – Mumbai which is his teacher wife, Nisha’s headache. The love of his life is his daughter, Pihu. “Fatherhood has taught me what unconditional love is,” he says emotionally. He is equally impressed with the support and guidance that L&T’s management has given during these times. “Makes me proud to be a part of an organization that is for the people, by the people. Jai Hind, Jai L&T!”