PREFACE We are so privileged to publish this valuable book titled “Tamilnadu PWD – Past & Present” authored by Er.K.Ramalingam, Former CE, TNPWD, Former President, Association of Engineers, TNPWD and presently the State President, Tamilnadu PWD Senior Engineers Associaiton as a Platinum Jubilee Publication of AOE, TNPWD. We are really fortunate to have I written by a Senior Stalwart of PWD and our Association. Infact it is a continuation of Er.C.S.Kuppuraj‘s book 150 years History of PWD, mainly supplementing and complementing the activities of TNPWD in the last 150 years – both before independence and also in the post independent period. It gives not only a detailed account of works implemented but also the engineers responsible for the execution. The data furnished relating to floodworks are very extensive and unique one carefully compiled in this treatise. The list of CEs of PWD from its inception 1857 to 2011 is included as a special addition, a reference for the present as well as for the future. We are thankful to Er.K.Ramalingam, who took lot of pains including proof correction at this age of 85 years. Er. N.Kailasapathy & Staff Er. AVA for their assistance. We convey our sincere thanks to Er. A.Mohanakrishnan, Former CE (I), PWD, Former Chairman CTC & Present Advisor - Water Resources (TN) for his valuable suggestions and correction of certain data and Thiru. S. Audiseshiah, IAS (Retd) Former Principal Secretary to Govt., PWD for their forewords adorning this book. We are grateful to Er. D.Arumugam, President & Er.P.Krishnamoorthy, General Secretary - Association of Engineers for their support and assistance. Our thanks are also to Thiru. M.Nasar Ahmed (M.S.Xerox) and VPS Printers for preparing the DTP works amd printing. We hope that this valuable treasure will be useful as a reference guide for the PWD Engineers and their well-wishers for many decades. Er. A.Veerappan Chairman, Organishing Committee AOE, TNPWD A Platinum Jubilee Celebrations FOREWORD It is my pleasure and privilege to write the Foreword to the book authored by Er. K. Ramalingam, my esteemed colleague in the Public Works Department. This is on the request of Er. A. Veerappan, State Secretary of the Tamil Nadu PWD Senior Engineers Association and Chairman, Organising Committee for the Celebration of the Platinum Jubilee of the Association of Engineers, Tamil Nadu Public Works Department. Er.A.Mohanakrishnan Er. K. Ramalingam is a very simple, honest, frank gentleman, soft and pleasing in his speech and manners. Always action-oriented, given a work to do, he will plunge into, with only the objective and target in mind. He has been very hard working and was sought after whenever difficult complicated jobs are to be executed in the department. Unlike me, he was versatile and has handled many intricate jobs in record time to the satisfaction of his senior officers. His execution of the Manniar Silt Ejector in the Cauvery Delta in 1974 with very little of technical help available to him, except for his visit to see similar Ejectors in the North Indian Irrigation Systems, has been a talk among us, his colleagues for long, and I am happy to record that Manniar Silt Ejector is still functioning satisfacatorily. I still remember how I admired his audacity as Executive Engineer to jump in, to take the wheel of the jeep when we were both taking the then Chief Engineer, of those days, in that jeep with no other vehicle for rescue, to drive a number of kilometres in the sandy tract leading to Dhanushkodi after the well known 1964 December devastating cyclone causing a six - metre wave sweeping clean across the tract into the sea leaving none alive, except a lonely dog which escaped. It is something of a phenomenon we now call "tsunami". We were taking the Chief Engineer to show the floating buoys we had erected for wind and tide observations while engaged in the detailed investigations for the alignment of the Sethu Samudram Canal which was dredged half way through and is halted at present. Er. K. Ramalingam, if I remember correct, did a lot of work for the Cooum Improvements and also largely improved the North Buckingham Canal widening and deepening, for resumption of navigation. He served on deputation for a period in the Neyveli Lignite Corporation in the formation period. He was the first Superintending Engineer posted on deputation to the Fishing and Marine Engineering Corporation and did a lot of initial investigation works to establish minor ports along the South Indian coast both east and west like Thondi, Muttom, Colachel etc. His services were lent to the Space Department when the Centre at Sriharikota was being developed. He made a mark in planning and organizing civil works in the initial stages for the functioning of the Centre meant for sending out PSLVs successfully since 1980, carrying satellites of various types, Indian and foreign, of varying pay loads. As Managing Director of the TN Tube Well Corporation which he organized, with regional units at Chennai, Villupuram and Trichy, to tap the ground water in the eastern plains of Tamil Nadu, he maintained close coordination with the investigations being done by the Ground Water Department, PWD. When he found too much of interference from the administrators, he preferred to leave and get back to PWD. As one who closely followed me in the listing of PWD Engineers, he got promoted as Chief Engineer, PWD, in charge of Minor Irrigation in 1984. During his period he concentrated on the minor irrigation tanks all over in Tamil Nadu and their modernization through external funding from the European Economic Community. Several Ex-Zamin tanks were also improved and brought under the Public Works Department where the ayacut served exceeded 40 hectares and the local Panchayat Unions where the ayacut served is less than 40 hectares, for maintenance. Coming to the Publication a draft copy of which was handed over to me, which I have read completely, the author by himself has clarified it as a SOURCE BOOK AND NOT A HISTORY in his "Introduction" chapter which I may extract below:- "Therefore the present account is not a history and not even an exhaustive account. But it is a source book. The events are arranged under some convenient heads for quick reference. Every effort has been made to trace the eventsfrom the administration and technical reports of the State Government and some institutions like the Association of Engineers, Budget speeches and Policy notes of the PWD". Er. K. Ramalingam rightly points out how we in the department are poor in recording events and maintaining histories of at least major technical achievements. He has taken enormous pains to collect information from different sources and perhaps from his own jottings he might have maintained. Listing of "Former Chief Engineers" in chapter 31 from the first Chief Engineer of the department, the most renowned irrigation engineer Col. Sir Arthur Cotton KC IRE, appointed in 1857 when the department was created, right upto the latest appointment on 08.08.2011 is commendable. The advisability of rearranging according to the subjects they held charge like irrigation, buildings, investigation, IHH, IMTI, PF, DRCS and so on irrespective of the repetition of the names under different heads, may be considered while editing. I should congratulate the Association of Engineers, Tamil Nadu PWD, who have planned the publication of this book to be released in their Platinum Jubilee Valedictory Function. This Association under the guidance of my elderly colleague Er. C.S. Kuppuraj got a fillip during ESCO 70 which he organized, .has been making a steady progress since then, under able successors, to reach this Platinum Jubilee year and present an image of trust, and respect as an organization serving the Engineers of the department, not only in representing and obtaining the reasonable emoluments for their services in the department, but also in improving their technical caliber through releases of technical hand books and publication of this nature. I am sure this Publication will serve the present and future generation of engineers in the Public Works Department as a ‗SOURCE BOOK‘ to whenever they come across situations, left to handle similar works by themselves, to learn and seek guidance from the contribution made by several engineers of the past in the department. 07-09-2011 A.Mohanakrishnan Advisor to Government, (Water Resources) S.AUDISESHIAH, I.A.S. (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary to Government, PWD 52, Cauvery street, Kalakshetra Colony, Besant Nagar, Chennai – 600 090. FOREWORD I deem it my honour and privilege to be invited to write the ‗foreword‘ for this compendium titled ―Tamil Nadu Public Works Department—Past and Present‖ authored by Er.K.Ramalingam, retired Chief Engineer, Public Works Department and former President/AOE, TNPWD and also sitting President, Senior Engineers Association, TNPWD. I thank Er. A.Veerappan, State Secretary & Chairman, Organising Committee and the office bearers of Senior Engineers Association, TNPWD for giving me this opportunity. Er. K. Ramalingam has created an impressive compendium of facts and figures carefully researching through 150 glorious years of Public Works Department. The content, in the given framework, covering a long history of the Organization cannot be expected to be more comprehensive. The author has tried to ensure that there are no gaps in information at any point in time regarding the outstanding performance of the Department. It is then for the individual reader to seek further details specific to the given subject depending upon his/her interest. I sincerely feel that every reader of this publication is obliged to compliment Er. K. Ramalingam for his sincere effort. An interesting fact reiterated in this compilation is that the Irrigation System in Tamil Nadu which we are proud of has its origin in the vision and creations of our ancient dynasties of Chera, Chola, Pandian and Pallava.