3.16 Incident CA—15 accountable to Professional Challenge
This incident relates to the development of an eye-hospital in the heart of Jorhat City of Assam. I was consulted by its owner right from the stage of the purchase of its plot of land in the period 1990s. The owner of this hospital is an eye-specialist popularly known in the country. He is Dr. Narayan Bordoloi appearing in Image 3.3. He has been a person closely known to me since his student life in Assam Medical College, Dibrugarh of Assam. While he was a practitioner in a small chamber, on a particular day, he came to me and took me to see a plot of land for his dream project of an eye-hospital. On my recommendation, he purchased the plot of land and entrusted me with the entire responsibility of the project management starting from the project conception to commissioning. This was, a challenging task for me, since it was the first hospital project coming to my company. I accepted the project basically for the reason that, by then he got a very good layout-plan for his proposed hospital from the related experts from a renowned eye-hospital of Hyderabad.
The present hospital consists of two blocks (as evidenced by Image 3.10). For the convenience of a brief discussion herein, the two blocks are named as South Block (right one in the image) and the North Block (left one in the image). At the initial stage, Dr. Bordoloi purchased only half of the present plot of land, in which the south block (a four-storied one) was planned. The planning of this block was basically based on the layout plan given by the Hyderabad Hospital, as stated above. However, I had to go for some modifications of the given layout plan in view of structural necessities but without disturbing the functional relationship, as existing in the said layout plan.
The architectural treatment of the external view and the structural design were done at my end and the detailed estimated cost was worked out on the basis of the APWD schedule of rates prevalent those days. Dr. Bordoloi gave me the entire responsibility of executing the project. I decided the different stages of execution as—-(a) site preparations including a proper enclosure for the entire plot of land, (b) laying of cast-in-situ piles as per design, (c) execution of all civil works in appropriate sequence, (d) execution of works of other services and (e) furnishings of the hospital and installations of medical instruments. The full responsibilities for completion of all works covered under stages (a) to (d) were given to me. Naturally, I fully realised the importance of the responsibilities entrusted to me for such an important project. I still remember the depth of confidence imposed on me by Dr. Bordoloi. He clarified his position in clear terms by simply stating—-Bhindeu (he addresses me as his own brother-in-law, since my wife is treated by him as his own elder sister), please treat this as your own project, I will pay you the money as and when you require. This statement deepened my commitment to the project, since I had to take all cares and pains to honour his confidence in me on one hand and on the other, the depth of his commitment to his own profession. Eventually, this project turned out to be a professional challenge even to me as well. I devoted my sincere efforts and time for bringing the project to the stage of commissioning at the end of a period of about three years.
I treat this one even today as the only project I handled in my professional career with so much of freedom in respect of the consideration of aspects relating to economy and quality of construction. In addition, this project gave me the unique advantage of planning, design and execution of a project with full autonomy without any interference from any quarter not to speak of the owner himself. In fact, I treated this as a field-research project for studying practically different aspects relating to economic cost of construction by maintaining the quality and time-schedule as well conceived during the stages of project planning and design, since I had the opportunity of controlling all aspects of execution of this project. Since, it was a project with my hidden-agenda of field-research in respect of parameters, as stated above, I took the charge of directly supervising all stages of construction with assistance of my other technical supervisor from my company in addition to a supervisor taken from Dr. Bordoloi’s side. There has been different project delivery models9 (as adopted internationally) for construction management. The delivery model chosen for the execution of this project was ‘Cost-Plus-Fee Contract’ in view of the included aspect of field-research (as already stated). Therefore, for all the civil works, labour contractors or labours directly engaged were utilised for the execution of different items of civil works depending on volume and exigencies of items of works, all materials being procured directly on behalf of the owner. Similar approach was adopted even for the execution of normal items of work of services. However, specialised teams for works like fitting of lifts, development of power houses, installation of refrigeration system etc. were duly engaged on contract basis. All the works involved under item (e), as noted above were completed at the end of owner himself. The hospital was inaugurated in 2003.
On completion of this project (only the South block), the cost incurred for all the civil works were deeply studied and the following observations were made:
*The unit cost of this block was found to be appreciably less than the unit cost calculated on the basis of the rates of the then-prevalent APWD SoR inclusive of the admissible cost index. The reasons for this savings may be attributed to the factors such as avoidance of contractor’s profit to the extent of about 15 percent of the total cost of civil works, wastage and pilferage of construction materials, avoidance of re-works, the maintaining of regular and well-planned progressof works during execution etc.
*My company charged only the standard fees, as admissible on account of design and supervision only.
*Fund flow, as required was uniformly maintained by the owner.
* The quality of construction, as conceived during the stagesof planning and design was strictly maintained during execution, as clearly evidenced by its present condition at its (South Block’s) present age of about 22 years successfully having the taste of a few moderate earthquakes.
My personal gain on the completion of this project (the South Block) has been, indeed many- fold in respect of experiences earned in all the stages of the project management, which helped me eventually in writing my first book9. In addition, this project earned me a life-long brother and a friend-in-need in the great personality of Dr. Narayan Bordoloi (Image 3.3).
After I shifted to Guwahati on my joining the second span of the teaching profession, Dr. Bordoloi procured the plot of land for the North Block (left one in Image 3.10) of his hospital and entrusted me again with the same responsibility as I was given for the South Block. I did discharge my responsibility by following the approach, as adopted for the earlier block. However, this time I placed at site a fresh graduate engineer for day-to-day supervision along with the earlier supervisor from the owner’s side. I kept on going to Jorhat from Guwahati every week-end for guiding and assisting the site engineer. Eventually, this block was also successfully completed a few years back up to the satisfaction of the owner.
The greatest satisfaction I derived in the period following the completion of this hospital project has been the truth that Dr. Bordoloi has been growing professionally since then at a very fast rate. He has expanded his professional services to different parts of the state of Assam in different ways. Recently, he took up a project of constructing an eye hospital in Lakhimpur, a district-headquarter of a district adjacent to Jorhat. Dr. Bordoloi wanted me to take up this project as well exactly in the way the earlier ones were completed. I avoided this project against his earnest desire, on account of some genuine reasons being deliberately avoided herein in spite of my physical and mental fitness for handling the same. However, the pleasing aspect of this hospital at Lakhimpur is the fact that it is also now in an advanced stage of completion under the guidance of some other consultants.
In concluding this incident, I cannot resist my temptation of mentioning a few words about the highly appreciable qualities of this great personality as a human being. The respect, love and the belief he exhibited to me during the stages of execution of the two completed blocks of his hospital are, by all means exceptional and unforgettable in my life. In response, to what extent I succeeded in honouring these qualities is naturally an aspect that can be best judged by none other than Dr. Bordoloi himself. What I can clearly state is the fact that I did try with all of my sincerity and honesty to act up to his expectations.
3.17 Incident CA—16 accountable to Professional Challenge
3.17.1 General
It was the period of early 2000s. One day, the General Manager along with a senior officer of Jorhat bottling unit of Coca Cola Ltd. came to my office. They expressed their necessity of engaging my company as the consultant of their unit. On my queries, it was stated that some developmental works were at that stage on. I asked again whether that was the initial stage of the developmental activities or some works were already on/completed. Reply came—some works have been almost completed and some are on the offing. I asked then specifically—you should have gone for a consultant at the beginning itself. In response, they stated— In fact, we have already got a consultant in place. However, we are having some reservations about that consultant. I did sensethen some issues, because by then, I started developing within myself a feeling to the effect that people normally come to me only after facing critical situations. Anyway, I finally stated—I will come tomorrow to your unit to see your activities in presence of your present consultant and then gather an idea on spot about the role to be played by me as your new consultant. They agreed and left my office.
Accordingly, next day I visited the Coca-Cola plant and met the working consultant—a young boy with a smart look and good manners. I asked him—you look very young. When didyou do your engineering and wherefrom? He smartly responded— Sir I did my engineering only two years back. He did not reply to the second part of my query. I insisted— Wherefrom? Reply came then—from Jorhat Engineering College Sir. After having the introductory discussion with him, I started discussing about different works he was dealing with for the said plant in the capacity of the consultant of the plant. After getting a broad idea about the activities of the plant from him, I met the plant’s GM in his office chamber. After having a brief discussion, I left the plant after assuring him that I would come back to him with my final decision within two or three days.
During my discussion with the young consultant at the Coca-Cola plant, I developed some doubt about his technical qualification and therefore, I contacted the Principal of Jorhat Engineering College over phone to know about the details of the passed-out student by that name. It was confirmed from the end of the principal to the effect that no student by that name passed out during the last 10 years. On knowing the correct situation, I contacted the consultant concerned and called him to my office. Next day he came to my office. I asked him to sit in my office chamber and straightway stated–I have ascertained the correct situation from the principle of JEC—you are not a JEC product. Let me know the correct situation so that I can try to save you from the serious situation you are going to face on account of cheating the Coca Cola management by giving false statement about your technical qualification.
On hearing me saying so, he started shedding tears and kept mum for a while. To pull him up from that stage of his mind, I asserted—Do not worry, you tell me the truth, I will try my best to save you, since you are a smart young-boy with a future ahead of you. Then, he stated in a broken voice— Sir, actually, I obtained the diploma in civil engineering from a polytechnic institute of Assam two years back. Having been unsuccessful to get a job elsewhere, I took recourse to this false approach for getting myself absorbed as a consultant by declaring myself as a civil engineering graduate. Sir, I am now ready to act as per your advice. I reacted sharply—How will you feel, if I decide to join that organisation as a consultant as per the desire expressed by its management now? He responded—I will be glad and I will resign immediately. I asked further—Have you got your fees as per your agreement? Answer came as— Sir, I have yet to submit the up-to-date bill for the works done so far. Then, I came up with my final advice to him—- You go now, prepare your up-to-date bill for the amount receivable by you from the organisation and submit your resignation. I assure you–I will not do any harm to you and join the organisation as its new consultant after you are duly released. He then left my office to act as per my advice. In fact, he did follow my advice strictly and I too joined the organisation subsequently. This was, how I got into the Jorhat Unit of Coca-Cola Ltd. as a consultant, being absolutely saddened by the sequence of happenings leading to this assignment. A few of the incidents of professional challenges fought at my end in this organisation get reflected by the incidents to follow now.
3.17.2 Incident CA—16 (a)
The first task given to me was to check a number of bills prepared and recommended by the earlier consultant for payment to the management. All those bills were not paid on account of reasons not divulged to me. I started checking the same. The discrepancies identified at my end in respect of measurements and rates for some items of work were duly corrected and the total amounts of each bill, payable to contractors concerned got reduced substantially. I had to take pains on convincing the contractors concerned for obtaining their signatures on respective MBs and bills after corrections. Those bills included the one submitted by the earlier consultant as well at the time of his resignation. The amount claimed to be payable to him too got reduced on my checking. This was indeed a boring task. But I had to do it, since I was paid for, as a consultant. On clearing all those disputed bills, I got the scope of taking care of the on-going and up-coming projects of the plant.
There was one on-going project of the construction of the first floor of the main office-cum-factory building. Incidentally, the contractor for this project was the one who was the contractor for first part of the laboratory complex of TTRI (briefly discussed under Incident CA—9 (a)). Therefore, he knew me very well. This time he completed the project under my supervision without creating any problem whatsoever. During the period of construction of this project, I was assigned the task of planning and design of a number of new up-coming projects. One of these up-coming projects included the construction of an R.C. floor in the backyard of the plant complex. This backyard used to be for the loading, unloading and parking of many heavily loaded trucks. Since the yard was an earthen one, it used to get appreciably muddy during monsoon, thereby disrupting the activities of the plant. It was duly planned and designed. Some challenges crept in during the execution of works in this backyard, as briefly dealt with under the next incident.
3.17.3 Incident CA—16 (b)
Since the backyard had to take heavy truck-loads, it was designed as the one having a number of cast-in-situ R.C slab panels – each one having a size of 2000x2000x150 mm with two layers of reinforcements being placed at top and bottom layers. The concrete adopted was of M25 grade. The construction joints of 20 to 25 mm width between panels were duly conceived during design. The necessary tender documents including the conditions of contract were duly prepared. By following the standard norms of the organisation concerned, the works were allotted to the contractor and the works commenced in full swing under t my company’s direct supervision. After the complete preparation of the sub-base of the R.C. floor, the casting of the R.C. cast-in-situ panels started. The laying of reinforcements was given by the contractor to a skilled person on the basis of labour cost at unit rate. On my checking of reinforcements as per detailed drawings prepared at my end, the mistakes were observed and pointed out for necessary correction to him. He corrected but again there were mistakes. He was advised to go for correction. This time, in lieu of taking up the necessary corrective measures, he (the labour contractor) sat down and started shedding tears. Being a bit surprised, I asked him—what happened? Why are you shedding tears? He responded in Hindi (translated into English) —-Sir, I will have to sell my village land to complete this work the way you want. The rate given to me by the main contractor is only Rs.110 per quintal of steel reinforcement. Then I called the main contractor (who was not at site at that moment) immediately to site. In the meantime, I went to my site-office and analysed the item-rate(inclusive of everything such as labour-cost, material cost and profit and taxes) approved for the contractor. The analysis so made reflected the fact that the labour component included in the given rate was of the order of about Rs. 400/- per quintal of reinforcements. Against this labour-cost, the labour-contractor concerned was given only Rs. 110/ per quintal, implying thereby the fact that the main contractor kept for himself about 72 per cent of the labour component against a normal admissibility of about 15 per cent only. I was shocked on this outcome of the rate analysis carried out at my end and I was truly convinced on the genuineness of the poor state of mind of the labour contractor concerned. On arrival of the main contractor at site on that day itself, he was forced to allow a labour cost of Rs.310/- per quintal to the labour contractor. Thereafter, the work of laying of the reinforcements as conceived in my design proceeded as per detailed drawing and the project was completed with proper quality, as conceived in the design.
This incident has a number of reflections in respect of maintaining quality in constructions, as noted below:
• Normally, there does exist a general condition of contract awarded to a contractor on item-rate basis with respect to the award of sub-contract by the main contractor concerned to other parties. The award of a sub-contract for works such as labour-contract or otherwise needs to be subject to approval by the management. This aspect was completely ignored in respect of the contract discussed under this incident. Therefore, this clause of the general conditions of contract needs to be duly honoured for ensuring the quality of constructions, as conceived in design.
• There is a general tendency on parts of the many of the contractors to engage cheap labourers for making an undue profit at the cost of quality of constructions. The conditions of contract as laid down and duly accepted by the contractors have to be strictly enforced during execution in order to ensure the conceived quality of construction works.
• Conditions of contract are very important for ensuring the quality of constructions for any type of construction projects. Therefore, the in-depth understanding of the laid down conditions of contract by the supervising engineers is a fundamental requirement for ensuring the desired quality of construction in any project.
3.18 Incident CA—17 accountable to Professional Challenge (To be continued in the next Post of this Blog)
References:
9. A book entitled ‘A Journey through the Construction Industry’ by Dr. H. K. Barua, May, 2025, Excellar Books (Global Press), Kalkota, W.B.
