CWG... And Our PWD

The disaster that is the CONgresswealth Games (CWG) ought to bring into sharp focus the workings of our Public Works Departments. All the construction work that has been carried out so badly has been done by our PWD - including the Central Public Works Department (CPWD). Obviously, something is very wrong with these departments. The sorry condition of all our roads should have brought home this fact long ago - but, I think, a disaster on such an epic scale as the CWG should drive the point home. Quite obviously, if we are to build real roads in India, these PWDs cannot be entrusted with the job. That is, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) needs competition. I will write a post on my roads vision some other day. Today, let me share with you something I unearthed about the East India Company civil servant, James Thomason, who was the "father of public works" in India.

James Thomason was a Haileybury man - trained at the East India College in Haileybury where the HEICS officers were taught that "good government consists in leaving people alone unless they begin hurting one another." He began as a Settlement Officer in Azamgarh, settling issues related to the land, ownership and titles. He rose to become Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces, staying in that position for ten years - until suddenly dying in office; "worn out, worked to death," Philip Mason reports. Mason adds the following about this "deeply religious" man:

He was the father of public works; more than any other one man he was responsible for the achievement of two great projects, the Grand Trunk Road and the Ganges Canal.... he founded the Engineering College at Roorkee which bore his name.

This Engineering College began with Civil Engineering as its principal focus - the "roads, bridges and canals" the British laissez faire Raj wanted to build in India as their "sovereign duty," having read Adam Smith well in Haileybury.

We think of the Grand Trunk Road that connects Calcutta to Peshawar as something built by Sher Shah Suri - as indeed it was. But it was James Thomason who converted it into a modern road, one that is the lifeline of North India till today. The Public Works Department under the British Raj built many excellent roads and many grand buildings - the mountain roads to Simla, Darjeeling and Nainital were among the best in the world then. The public buildings in Nude Elly where the CONgress rules from, including Rashtrapati Bhavan and Parliament House, were built by the British PWD.

What do we do with our PWD? I had a funny dream once - and even wrote an article on it - in which I ordered the Indian Air Force to bomb all PWD offices throughout India. But seriously, maybe we should import a PWD. Perhaps from Germany. Or Switzerland. Their PWDs sure know their job.