(Note: The name of the topic has now been changed from ‘Fighting Conflict of Interest and Mind as Professional Engineer’ to the one as appearing above—this name has been considered to be more appropriate for the discussion)
2.1 Introduction
My professional life in Part C (From April. 1978 to September, 1987—-Figure 1.1) in TES started as briefly described in the last post of this blog. This is the period during which I had to fight many challenges basically accountable to the conflicts of interest and Conflicts of Mind in different activities of the construction industry. I had to fight all the challenges for my own survival as an engineer with a life-long conviction of living a life of honesty, integrity and truthfulness with due honour to my institutes conferring upon me the highly valuable degrees. This is the conviction that kept on giving me energy and courage to go on fighting the challenges created by conflicts of interest as well as those of mind on a number of occasions during this part of my professional life. The pains and troubles I had to go through were, on the other hand compensated substantially by the truth that this period did provide me with the much-sought-after scope for gathering the practical experiences in the construction industry, which, as I considered were of absolute necessity to fulfil my ultimate desire of becoming a consultant in the truest sense of the term.
Even today I feel, the period spent by me in TES was the one that gave me the scope of gathering experiences in varieties of areas of project management and maintenance management—the important aspects treated exhaustively in my first book (Chapters 5 and 6). As the engineer in charge of the unit of Maintenance and Construction, my responsibilities were as indicated in flowchart of Figure 2.1 given below. The salient responsibilities, as briefly defined through the figure indicate the wide scope that was then open for me to fulfil my strong desire of having the on-job experiences of construction industry before throwing myself into the domains of consultancy profession. At that stage, I thought, I would start my life as a full-time consultant after working in TES for 2/3 years. However, I had to work in TES for a period appreciably longer than what I had contemplated (of 2/3 years) on account of some unavoidable circumstances developing at a later stage. Some of those circumstances get reflected through the incidents of Conflict of Interest as well as Conflict of Mind, described in the paragraphs to follow.
Conditions under which I had to start the journey in TES were ideal in respect of the organizational set up and budget provisions for both recurring and non-recurring expenditures. The organizational set up was very good at workforce level. However, at the supervisory level, I felt some shortcomings. There was a highly skilled workforce in all the domains of maintenance activities. However, I strongly felt the necessity of making an attempt to initiate measures for improving the same. At the beginning itself, I felt the freedom and support extended to me by the local management headed by Dr. Jain, then director of TES. So, the organizational set-up along with my salary with the associated facilities truly gave me an ideal situation to discharge my responsibilities without compromising with my hard- earned conviction for professional ethics.
In concluding the introduction to this chapter of my professional life, I am tempted to state my strong feeling to the effect that the humiliating situation I had to face in JEC eventually turned out to be Almighty’s ‘Blessings in disguise’. Because, TES did provide me with the golden opportunity to fulfil my long-felt desire of acquiring practical experiences of construction industry before entering into the full-time consultancy profession, as conceived much earlier.On the other hand, TES did provide me with the scope of enhancing my deplorable economic condition, since there was a sudden jump in my earnings through salary and the associated benefits in the form of admissible perks, as compared to the one I had in JEC. I am indeed grateful to TES even today for these benefits in my life.
Only a few of the challenges faced during the period of my services to TES have been considered to be worth mentioning herein.
2.2 Incident C1 accountable to Conflict of Interest
I had to check and recommend the payment of a Contractor’s Final Bill for the completion of the major construction of a hostel building. The work was completed before I took over the charge. In fact, this was the first construction bill I got to check and recommend the payment to the Accounts Department of TES. The contractor concerned was a perfect gentleman who used to speak excellent English. I came to know that he was one of the senior contractors executing a number of contract jobs of TES in the past. I started checking the bill by referring to the available contract documents, drawings etc and additionally by visiting the completed building a number of times and noted many deviations in respect of specifications, quantities and qualities. Being at a loss as to what to do under that situation, I had a detailed discussion on the noted discrepancies with the Administrative Officer and the Director. They appreciated my points of view and advised me to go ahead with the work of checking the bill the way, as permitted by technical considerations. Having been encouraged by the words of these two top officials, I continued my critical checking of the said bill and eventually finalised the corrected value payable finally to the contractor. I called the contractor concerned to my office and asked him to sign every page of the corrected MB and the final bill before putting up my final recommendation for payment. He readily agreed to sign the way suggested. However, he did express his anger on me by passing a sarcastic comment—-Ok Dr. Barua, I am happy on knowing your honesty and sincerity. I hope, the same would continue. I responded—-Thank you for the compliment. Let us hope so.
The extent of reduction in the final value of the bill, eventually arrived at after my extensive checking did convincingly tell me to be careful in my dealings with the old set of contractors who were then on the list of contractors executing different works covered under both recurring and non-recurring budgets. It was truly this incident that encouraged me to put up a proposal to the Director for enlisting a new set of registered contractors only for different works to be executed under recurring budgets. I gave genuine reasonings in favour of the said proposal. In the meantime, I did complete my rapid visual survey (RVS) of the existing buildings and other infrastructure of the whole campus of TES. The volume of repair and rehabilitation works to be systematically taken up within the approved recurring budget was suggested by my RVS. This was the basic reason for which I felt the necessity of having a set of energetic contractors for different types of the repair and rehabilitation works. All these points were briefly stated in the proposal put up to the director for registration of a new set of contractors. To my satisfaction, the director was so kind as to promptly approve the said proposal.Thereafter, I took the follow-up actions and got a new set of young and energetic contractors, duly registered with due approval from the top management. This arrangement facilitated the quick process of award of contracts for all types of work covered under recurring budget. The other purpose served by this process was the fact that the younger generation was thereby given a scope to enter into the profession of contractors —a profession so far dominated in TES by the older generation. During those days even, I held a strong view to the effect that it is the responsibility of the engineer to train and motivate the contractor to go for execution of works with the desired quality within stipulated time and cost. I was prepared then to take up this responsibility. I am a strong believer of the contention that it is easier to train and motivate younger minds for the works with due quality than the older ones.
Further, at the initial stage of my life in TES itself, I felt the necessity of strengthening my team in respect of office administration and at supervisory level even though I had some experienced hands. There was a very smart Stores Assistant, who was then in charge of all the materials purchased and for processing of suppliers’ bills. Later on, I came to know that he happened to be the son of a retired Accounts Officer of TES. On account of being a son of a retired officer, he had a very good rapport with everybody. Apart from that, he was a well-mannered person. (He has been named herein as P for future reference). This was in this context that I put up a second proposal for the sanction of three additional posts—-one for a diploma holder in electrical engineering, one for a diploma holder in civil engineering and one draftsman for civil engineering drawings. The management was kind enough to approve that proposal also. I took immediate follow-up actions and got two fresh diploma holders and one draftsman appointed and, on their joining, I got my team at supervisory level adequately strengthened to proceed with different activities of the unit with full mind and heart. I gratefully remember even today the support and encouragement received from the ends of then director and administrative officer.
I identified a lot of areas of shortcomings including some sources of pilferages and tried hard to go on incorporating corrective measures. Simultaneously, I had to go on supervising the new construction works as well. During the initial period, the construction of 8 officer’s bungalows were on under some contractors. I had to control those construction works also, though my supervisors were placed at site. I got myself then fully absorbed in varieties of repair and rehabilitation works in addition to those of new constructions. Against this busy schedule of my new life in TES, I did enjoy all activities, since I knew my basic purpose of going on gathering experiences in the world of construction industry, many aspects of which were found to be imminent in my official responsibilities. Indeed, the pursuance of this basic purpose was the one that inspired me to go on working against many odds coming on the way. Some of the incidents to follow will possibly reflect some ideas of the life I had to live during the period of my services in TES.
2.3 Incident C2 accountable to Conflict of Interest
There was a system of the raising of work-orders by the officers occupying official bungalows and sending the same to the maintenance unit for taking corrective measures for different faults/defects experienced by the officers concerned. I was surprised to deal with on a regular basis such types of a huge number of work orders relating to different defects/faults in the bungalows/laboratory buildings etc. Initially, I thought, this was possibly because of the age of the buildings and other types of essential service-infrastructure. As time passed on, having seen the volume of inflow of work-orders to my table, I got truly concerned and started looking seriously into the technical reasons responsible for different defects/faults raised through the work orders. There were many cases causing my serious concern towards technical reasons responsible for such a situation. To deal with all cases having conflict of interest is obviously an impossible task. However, what is stated below does present a representative case.
The disruption in the flow of toilet-commode’s wash-water in a septage system is a common problem and the reasons thereof are also the known ones. Therefore, I was shocked on seeing the regular inflow of work orders relating to this problem from the officer’s bungalows. Every week, I used to get 4/5 work orders of this type. I had then 3 or 4 persons as regular employees for the job of sweeper. One day, I called the senior-most sweeper to my office and discussed about the same problem with reference to a work order from a bungalow. I asked him—–What is the real problem? He was very smart in responding—-Sir, the septic tank is full and it needs cleaning. For cleaning a septic tank, those days, he (the sweeper) used to charge about Rs.150.00 per tank, because he had to engage 2 or 3 extra persons for doing the cleaning job.
I did not clear the work order for doing the cleaning job then. Next day morning, I called the same sweeper and went to check personally the said septic tank. I took my technical supervisor and two other labourers along with me. At site, I got the manhole door of the top slab of the septic tank opened (marked as 1 in Figure 2.2a) and found that the tank was truly full. Next, I got the cover slab of the adjoining soak-pit(marked as 8 in Figure 2.2b) also removed. To my utter surprise, I found that it was completely dry and saw the outlet of the inlet pipe from the septic tank was plugged at the outlet (marked as X in Figure 2.2b) with a wrapped gunny bag. I clearly understood the game that was being played by a person non-other than the sweeper himself. I coolly asked the sweeper to remove the plug of gunny bag and saw the last chamber of the septic tank getting emptied in my presence up to the designed level (marked as Y in Figure 2.2a). This washow the problem got solved in no time.
My supervisor astonishingly passed a comment by looking at me—-Sir, I am surprised. I got the scope to advise him—-This is how we ought to have site visits occasionally. On the other hand, I too did enjoy the incident. Later on, some stray comments came to my ear——Oh, this engineer with his Ph. D. from IIT, Kharagpur has come here to do works like checking a septic tank. I enjoyed this comment and smilingly responded—–I have chosen my lovely profession with a deep sense of dedication and love—I design many structures including the septic tanks and supervise their constructions as well. While writing on this point, my mind has gone to the days of my post-graduate training in Bokaro Steel Plant in 1969-70. One day, I was visiting the construction site with my training guide (who happened to be an IITan, as I stated earlier). I then saw a person wearing a pair of shorts working on the top of a four-storied steel plant building (that was under construction). Having seen him, I stated to my guide—-Sir, these labourers perform their works under such a critical situation. My guide responded in a harsh voice—-Do not mistake him to be a labourer. He is a top class Russian Engineer, an expert in his works. I had the fortune of having seen role-models of that type.
On the Saturday following the day of our site visit, I was in my office even after the working time was over. Then I heard shouting outside on the campus-road passing just by the front of my office. The man shouting was fully drunk. He was non other than the sweeper involved in this incident. He shouted while walking along the road in Hindi, the translated version of which briefly goes as—What an engineer has come. He has blocked my regular earnings of 3 to 4 hundred rupees every week-end. I called him to my office in the first hour of next Monday and warned him not to repeat that type of behaviour in future for avoiding officially admissible stern action from my end. He corrected himself to an appreciable extent thereafter, reflecting thereby the fact that he was a good person after all.
There are many more incidents reflecting challenges to my professional life in TES. Some of them will be dealt with in the subsequent posts in the blog.
10‘Behavior of one-story reinforced concrete frame infilled with brickwork under lateral loads’, by H. K. Barua and S. K. Mallick, Proc., Sixth World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, January 10-14, 1977
11. ‘Behavior of mortar infilled steel frames under lateral loads’, by H. K. Barua and S. K. Mallick, Building and Environment, Vol. 12, 1977, pp263—277, Great Britain.
12. ‘A review of the behavior of infilled frames under lateral loads’, by H. K. Barua and S. K. Mallick, The Indian Concrete Journal, Vol 51, July, 1977
13. https://aau.ac.in/about/Professor-Devajit-Chaliha/6
14.https://in.images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrKC_7eCixoDLMHEzbnHgx.;_ylu=Y29sbwMEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Nj?p=Photo+of+Hiteswar+Saikia%2C+Ex-Chief+Minister+of+
15.https://in.images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=Awr1QQTKMzBoOgIAtIy7HAx.;_ylu=Y29sbwNzZzMEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Nj?p=heritage+bungalows+of+tocklai+tea+research+i
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