Fwd: [satsangha_east] Divine project executed by mortals - K G Hariharan

[Guest guest]

Note: forwarded message attached.

 

 

 

 

______________________________\

____

Everyone is raving about the all-new Mail

(http://advision.webevents./mailbeta/)

 

 

Very interesting.

 

http://www.indeconomist.com/301004_hariharan.html

 

 

Thirumala Hills, abode of Lord Balaji, attracts the

largest number of pilgrims. The Balaji temple at

Tirumala is the richest, supporting a large number of

educational and social development projects for years.

The number of visitors to Tirumala has been increasing

year after year, as also their offerings.

In 1999, Thirumala faced acute shortage of water due

to an extended dry spell and failure of monsoon. The

main source of supply from the three reservoirs up the

hills dried up. The then AP chief minister,

Chandrababu Naidu, decided to act fast, to ensure

water supply for the peak Brahmotsava season some

three months away. He telephoned A Ramakrishna, deputy

managing director and president L & T, heading the ECC

operations. Naidu has been drawing copiously on the

expertise of AR and ECC and had taken him as part of

his several visits abroad to project AP. The Hitech

city, the showpiece of AP in the IT sector, was

jointly developed by L & T and the AP government (the

HITEX international exhibition centre is another such

example).

 

AR sent his senior colleague, K G Hariharan (KGH).

This veteran builder of several projects for ECC, had

a long meeting with senior bureaucrats and had just a

night to prepare the estimate (even before accessing

information on the terrain or topography). The brief

was to pump water from the plains to the hills. When

he met the CM next morning, Naidu requested for the

delivery of water to the hills in two months! Knowing

the urgency and the importance, KGH said he would try

to complete it in three months, if Lord Balaji willed

so.

 

AR, KGH and their colleagues are intensely religious.

They have executed several such projects for the Sri

Satya Baba Trust, including a large water supply

scheme to Anantapur. The spirit of service drove them

to serve God.

 

KGH and his team delivered the project ahead, in 77

days! Pumping 45 lakh litres of water every day over

8.5 km and a head of 763 metres through a steep

gradients. While ECC is celebrating its diamond

jubilee, here is an account of how this was achieved,

as a first person narration by KGH. Faith can indeed

move mountains! - Ed. IE

 

I recall vividly that auspicious day of Deepavali,

when I received a call from A Ramakrishna, my boss,

requesting that we meet Andhra Pradesh chief minister

Chandrababu Naidu the very next day at Hyderabad.

Ramakrishna went on to say that Naidu had solicited

the help of L & T-ECC to resolve one of his immediate

problems. I recalled with some hazy memory, about his

talking about an acute water scarcity at one of the

holiest of Hindu shrines of worship – Tirumala.

Despite this, I was a trifle taken aback primarily

because of the fact that we would have to face Andhra

Pradesh CM with not much of an extensive knowledge on

this problem and that too at such short notice. But

AR's persuasive skills were at its best when he said:

“KGH, I know you can handle the situation. Well, I

have got that confidence.” He had in the past used

these few words to great effect on me, thereby getting

me to address some of the most challenging tasks.

Challenges

I reached Hyderabad next day along with my trusted

lieutenants V V Subbiah and S Jagannathan. At 7 pm the

same night we had a meeting with some of the

senior-most state secretaries headed by Rambabu,

additional chief secretary in the Andhra Pradesh

secretariat. The goal was to transport water from

Tirupati – the foothills of the holy shrine to

Tirumala, the abode of the Lord. Simplistic as they

made it sound, my experience gave me a ringside view

of the challenges that needed to be surmounted to

accomplish this daunting task. The project involved

the transportation of water over a height of around

800 metres, construction of ground level service

reservoirs, electrical substation, piping mains and

accessories. It also called for the design, supply,

installation, testing and commissioning of the

pipeline, erection of pumps with motors and surge

protection equipment – overall a comprehensive

engineering, procurement and construction (EPC)

project.

The secretaries expressed their desire to have the

estimate on the project cost within 24 hours – a stiff

and imposing deadline considering the fact that we did

not have the complete technical data that the project

would demand. That was the first of many challenges.

Mid night oil was burnt, people harnessed at short

notice and at unearthly hours, minds applied,

knowledge recalled and pooled and we were ready to

face this preliminary challenge. That same night we

had a meeting with the chief minister wherein he

expressed his immense confidence in L & T's ability to

meet deadlines and bring the task at hand to fruition.

However, what he expected was a trifle too impossible

– completion of the project in 60 days! With a little

deliberation I agreed to complete this job in 90 days.

 

Several reputations at stake...

Today, on hindsight, I do not know what force made me

offer this impossible deadline. In the past, my

excellent support system in the form of my dedicated

colleagues, workers and well-wishers had ensured that

I never failed in executing a project. However, in

this case, past successes were overshadowed by an

element of doubt: was I taking on too big a challenge?

Was I being over-confident about my abilities?

Although, there was no fear of failure, the stakes in

this project were too high. Not only was I staking my

own reputation but that of several individuals and

entities. Failure would not just taint me but affect A

Ramakrishna and L & T-ECC as a whole. A leader like

Chandrababu Naidu, who had, by awarding the job to

L & T-ECC, reposed great faith in our abilities, would

also get tainted since he had not called for an open

tender to save on the time that would be lost in a

tendering process, (the CM constituted a higher power

committee to award the contract on nomination basis;

he also apprised and got the consent of the leaders of

the major opposition party, the Congress - Ed, IE).

The failure would be as public and as memorable as any

possible success.

“Abu, rush to Madras if you’re alive!”

One of the foremost requirements of this project was

an able and battle-hardened workforce who would not

stop at anything to ensure successful completion. My

thoughts went to one Aboobuker, who had worked with me

11 years back and was with me for over a decade. A

trusted and dedicated worker, his involvement was an

imperative to face the challenges of this seemingly

insurmountable task, sent a telegram to his native

place in Kerala, which read: “Abu, I do not know

whether you are dead or alive. If you are alive, reach

Madras the day after tomorrow and meet me. " My

colleague Subbiah raised a question: " Sir, how do you

know his present whereabouts? " My answer to that was,

" if Abu comes to Madras, I will believe that the

Almighty has blessed me and ordained that this task be

completed. " I looked upon this as a test, which would

provide me an indication of things to come. To my

great surprise and relief, I saw Abu standing at my

office the day I landed back in Chennai. The moment I

got out of my car he just bent and touched my feet

asking, " Sir, what can I do for you? " The answer was

in my unshed tears. I saw my Hanuman who would leap

across the seas and help me in our efforts. The

Almighty had shown me the way. Now there was no way

that the project couldn't proceed further. I told Abu,

" go back home and collect 150 workers and reach

Tirupathi in three days. " I also gave him the name of

some workers whom I had worked with many years back.

Without hesitation or question Abu only said " Seri,

Sir (Yes, Sir). "

The long delivery-time of pumps cut short!

First hurdle crossed, we began the next phase of

operations. Hectic consultations were held among

myself and my design team, my trusted lieutenants V V

Subbiah, C Raghavan and S Jagannathan – the project in

charge. Finally, we arrived at the strategy we could

adopt for this project and penned down the

implementation plan. Our basic requirements were four

units of 640 KW pumps and motors, connected fitments

in the pump house and around 2000-3000 workers to

carry out civil jobs, entire electrification and

automation job.

We came across our next stumbling block when Subbiah

said that the 640 KW pumps and motors couldn’t be

procured in less than 120 days. There was an implicit

issue underlying this statement, which purportedly

questioned my wisdom in committing a completion time

of 90 days for this project. My answer was: “a

decision had been taken and you have only one option –

to fall in line.” I should be thankful for the

intelligence and obedience of Subbiah who immediately

banished all negative thoughts and started to look at

this project in a more positive sense. I called my

secretary R Rangarajan and told him: “you will not

move out of your seat. I will be giving you some

hundred phone numbers, and it is on you to get me

these people on the line at the earliest.” The first

call of mine was to a very senior executive of

Kirloskar Pumps & Motors. Without much ado I laid

forward my demands. The conversation went along the

following lines:

 

Motors – the long and short of these

“I need 4 x 640 KWpumps and motors. How fast can you

deliver these to me? " The answer was “minimum six

months.”

“I am talking about six days, you are talking about

six months. You keep expressing your love and

admiration whenever we interact. However, when I

genuinely need your help you are not with me. If you

really mean what you say and love me, I want these

pumps to reach us in the shortest time.”

 

His answer was " I can, perhaps, give it in four

months.”

 

Then I again took recourse to the Almighty and said,

“this is for Tirupati.”

 

The name of the divine helped and pat came the answer;

“I will make it in 60 days.”

 

Emboldened that it was possible, I kept on pushing,

“45 days is acceptable.”

 

In the history of this industry such heavy duty pumps

had never been supplied in less than six months.

Again, I would attribute this only to an unseen force,

which made this possible. This incident pushed my

confidence level one notch higher.

 

‘A good opportunity to wash your sins!’

We moved on to the next problem that needed to be

tackled at the start: procurement of steel. We

required 450 tonnes of steel plates of a particular

width, which no steel manufacturer in India rolled.

Again, I sought the help of another good friend – a

senior executive of a renowned steel plant. Again,

invoking the name of the Almighty I called up my good

friend and I said: “I need these plates.” The answer

was “Hariharan saab, we do not roll steel plates of

this width.”

I shot back: " do not tell me what width you roll. I

know that perfectly, since I was the one who built

this plant for you. "

 

He said: " Sorry. "

 

I retorted: " I do not want your sorry. I want your

answer. I want these plates and that too in 3 days. "

My colleagues sitting in front of me looked

flabbergasted that I was speaking to a senior

executive in such an irreverent manner.

 

I continued: " I will send a team of people. You start

rolling plates of 1.5 M width, I will arrange laser

cutting to the width of 1.25 M. I know you will incur

a loss of more than 20 per cent, but remember you are

doing this for Lord Balaji.”

 

I continued in a humorous vein: “In doing so, you

would have washed your sins to a certain extent. Don’t

you think it is a good opportunity that you should

avail?” From the other end I heard a good laugh and

finally the answer I was pushing for came through: “I

will do it saab.”

 

Again the hand of the Almighty!

His “Yes” solved only a part of the problem. The

bigger problem still remained. We still needed around

450 MT of steel, which no other major steel companies

were willing to provide. Here is where I again saw the

hand of Almighty. We came across a company, which

hitherto was never known to make steel in the plate

form. They were into the manufacture of lamps.

Surprisingly, this company agreed to manufacture and

transport the steel that we required all the way from

Delhi to remote Madurantakam in Tamil Nadu in just

three days.

Problem number four stared at us in the face now. We

had to find someone to roll these steel plates into

pipes, each about 12 m in length and all this in just

three days. Divine intervention was again seen when

the only spiral building company in the South, PSL

Holdings, readily came forward to execute this task.

During the normal course, manufacture of these pipes

would have taken close to 30 days but PSL agreed to

execute this order in just three days.’ The pipes also

reached Tirupathi, a distance of more 250 km from

Chennai within a week.

 

Having ensured that the major requirements of the

project were secured, we decided to get down to the

brass tacks of implementing the plan. At this point in

time I just decided to submit myself to the power of

the Lord to help me finish this project within the

stipulated time of 90 days.

 

A stiff target of 77 days

I had visited Tirupati exactly 24 years back when my

elder daughter was hardly a year old. Since then I did

not have the opportunity to have a darshan of Lord

Balaji. I requested Subba Rao, executive officer of

Devasthanam to arrange for my ‘darshan of the

Almighty’ and also had a special request to give me

some extended time before the Lord. One usually gets

only a few minutes. It is to my good fortune that I

could spend a couple of hours in front of the Lord and

had a great darshan. My only prayers were: “Oh Lord!

You never failed me in all these years, don't fail me

at your doorsteps.” My tears were my “pujapushp” at

his feet. When I came out after the darshan, I called

my boys and set a few target dates wherein we were

required to complete some milestone activities. I

termed this project a “77 day wonder” – that was the

internal target we set for ourselves.

One other challenge we faced was the question of

transporting 12 m long pipes through rugged terrain

and steep slopes to the desired spots. I decided to

take my " Hanuman " – Aboobucker, into confidence and

then walked down this demanding, slopy and rough

terrain. A sudden idea flashed through me. I turned to

Abu and told him - “can we not launch the pipe using

these tall trees?” At that point in time it struck me

that through divine ordinance nature was also going

all out to help us. And with this process we took all

the pipes to their respective locations.

 

We also managed to mobilise 2500 workers from all over

India within seven days. All through my life of

handling complex projects, this scale of operations

was still something that I faced for the first time.

The transport of material for concreting proved a

Herculean task. We formed a human chain and also used

donkeys to transport the same up the treacherous

terrain. By God’s grace and due to careful monitoring

and precision management of activities we were able to

achieve the target dates for the milestone events

accident-free.

 

Apart from the technical aspects, what would

eventually ensure the success of this project was the

enthusiasm level of the people involved in it. A

project so demanding would eventually take a toll on

the people. Motivation was hence the need of the

labour. To demonstrate that the top management was

equally involved in the success of the project and

also to show that the gargantuan accomplishments of

the workers on the ground was not going unnoticed, we

got our chief A Ramakrishna visit the project site and

interact with the workers. It is to the credit of

Ramakrishna that amidst his tight schedule and various

constraints, he decided to walk down the rugged hills.

During the course of the walk met all the workers and

staff. This was a great morale booster for all

concerned.

 

The other incident connected with the project, which

stands out in my memory, is the oath taken by Abu and

his predominantly Muslim labour force to stay off

liquor, smo-king and non-vegetarian food for the

entire duration of the work. This best exemplifies the

grass roots belief in secularism.

 

The 'D-day' arrived for testing and commissioning of

the pipeline. The pressure to be tested was 95 kg /

cm2. Even though I had been touring extensively, I was

in touch with Jagannathan, my trusted lieutenant,

practically on an hourly basis. On the designated day,

soon after my morning prayers I called Jagannathan and

enquired about the pressure. His answer was “which

pressure are you asking about Sir, mine or line

pressure?” In a choked and shivering voice he said the

golden words, which we were all waiting to hear –

“water has reached Tirumala.” The tears that I shed on

hearing this were tears of joy and relief. This was

truly one Jagannathan rendering yeoman service to

another Jagannathan – the Almighty Lord himself. The

other person without whom this project would never

have attained completion is Raghavan. Again a

dedicated, selfless and hardworking individual who

gave his all to realise this impossible dream. Again

one Raghavan in the service of another Raghavan – the

Almighty Lord himself.

 

‘It’s not me who did it’

I am very sure if anyone asks me to repeat this type

of a job, I will never be able to do this again. It is

not me who did it.

This was a project where passion worked for reasons

that went far beyond money and status. A propensity to

pursue goals with energy and persistence to hallmark.

A strong drive to achieve optimism, even in the face

of failure is not a project executed by men, it was a

Divine Project executed by men through His guidance

and blessings.

 

The author is executive vice president, L & T-ECC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________\

____

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nArAyaNAya paripUrNa guNArNavAya

vishvodaya sthitilayonniyati pradAya |

j~nAnapradAya vibudhAsurasaukhya duHkha

satkAraNAya vitatAya namonamaste |

 

 

NârâyaNa, who is an ocean of complete virtues; Who causes the rise,

sustenance, and fall of the universe; Who gives knowledge, and joy and

suffering respectively to the good and the evil; Who is a Benevolent Cause, and

is completely beyond comprehension: Him, I salute over and over.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

If one wants to hear of miracles in this period, here is one. Sri

Hariharan, you are a bhagiratha of Kali yuga!

Thank you for posting the inspirational nugget on the site.Shouldnt we

have these in the text books, as special features in the media, to

provide a much needed wiff of fresh air?

We have a family group site, and i have taken the liberty of posting

it to my kith and kin over the globe.

 

Thank you again, and namaskaras

Srinivasan

Sqn.Ldr. (Retd)

Bangalore

, Krishnaraj Ramachandran

<rkrishnaraj wrote:

>

>

> Note: forwarded message attached.

>

>

>

>

>

______________________________\

____

> Everyone is raving about the all-new Mail

> (http://advision.webevents./mailbeta/)

>

> Very interesting.

>

> http://www.indeconomist.com/301004_hariharan.html

>

>

> Thirumala Hills, abode of Lord Balaji, attracts the

> largest number of pilgrims. The Balaji temple at

> Tirumala is the richest, supporting a large number of

> educational and social development projects for years.

> The number of visitors to Tirumala has been increasing

> year after year, as also their offerings.

> In 1999, Thirumala faced acute shortage of water due

> to an extended dry spell and failure of monsoon. The

> main source of supply from the three reservoirs up the

> hills dried up. The then AP chief minister,

> Chandrababu Naidu, decided to act fast, to ensure

> water supply for the peak Brahmotsava season some

> three months away. He telephoned A Ramakrishna, deputy

> managing director and president L & T, heading the ECC

> operations. Naidu has been drawing copiously on the

> expertise of AR and ECC and had taken him as part of

> his several visits abroad to project AP. The Hitech

> city, the showpiece of AP in the IT sector, was

> jointly developed by L & T and the AP government (the

> HITEX international exhibition centre is another such

> example).

>

> AR sent his senior colleague, K G Hariharan (KGH).

> This veteran builder of several projects for ECC, had

> a long meeting with senior bureaucrats and had just a

> night to prepare the estimate (even before accessing

> information on the terrain or topography). The brief

> was to pump water from the plains to the hills. When

> he met the CM next morning, Naidu requested for the

> delivery of water to the hills in two months! Knowing

> the urgency and the importance, KGH said he would try

> to complete it in three months, if Lord Balaji willed

> so.

>

> AR, KGH and their colleagues are intensely religious.

> They have executed several such projects for the Sri

> Satya Baba Trust, including a large water supply

> scheme to Anantapur. The spirit of service drove them

> to serve God.

>

> KGH and his team delivered the project ahead, in 77

> days! Pumping 45 lakh litres of water every day over

> 8.5 km and a head of 763 metres through a steep

> gradients. While ECC is celebrating its diamond

> jubilee, here is an account of how this was achieved,

> as a first person narration by KGH. Faith can indeed

> move mountains! - Ed. IE

>

> I recall vividly that auspicious day of Deepavali,

> when I received a call from A Ramakrishna, my boss,

> requesting that we meet Andhra Pradesh chief minister

> Chandrababu Naidu the very next day at Hyderabad.

> Ramakrishna went on to say that Naidu had solicited

> the help of L & T-ECC to resolve one of his immediate

> problems. I recalled with some hazy memory, about his

> talking about an acute water scarcity at one of the

> holiest of Hindu shrines of worship – Tirumala.

> Despite this, I was a trifle taken aback primarily

> because of the fact that we would have to face Andhra

> Pradesh CM with not much of an extensive knowledge on

> this problem and that too at such short notice. But

> AR's persuasive skills were at its best when he said:

> " KGH, I know you can handle the situation. Well, I

> have got that confidence. " He had in the past used

> these few words to great effect on me, thereby getting

> me to address some of the most challenging tasks.

> Challenges

> I reached Hyderabad next day along with my trusted

> lieutenants V V Subbiah and S Jagannathan. At 7 pm the

> same night we had a meeting with some of the

> senior-most state secretaries headed by Rambabu,

> additional chief secretary in the Andhra Pradesh

> secretariat. The goal was to transport water from

> Tirupati – the foothills of the holy shrine to

> Tirumala, the abode of the Lord. Simplistic as they

> made it sound, my experience gave me a ringside view

> of the challenges that needed to be surmounted to

> accomplish this daunting task. The project involved

> the transportation of water over a height of around

> 800 metres, construction of ground level service

> reservoirs, electrical substation, piping mains and

> accessories. It also called for the design, supply,

> installation, testing and commissioning of the

> pipeline, erection of pumps with motors and surge

> protection equipment – overall a comprehensive

> engineering, procurement and construction (EPC)

> project.

> The secretaries expressed their desire to have the

> estimate on the project cost within 24 hours – a stiff

> and imposing deadline considering the fact that we did

> not have the complete technical data that the project

> would demand. That was the first of many challenges.

> Mid night oil was burnt, people harnessed at short

> notice and at unearthly hours, minds applied,

> knowledge recalled and pooled and we were ready to

> face this preliminary challenge. That same night we

> had a meeting with the chief minister wherein he

> expressed his immense confidence in L & T's ability to

> meet deadlines and bring the task at hand to fruition.

> However, what he expected was a trifle too impossible

> – completion of the project in 60 days! With a little

> deliberation I agreed to complete this job in 90 days.

>

> Several reputations at stake...

> Today, on hindsight, I do not know what force made me

> offer this impossible deadline. In the past, my

> excellent support system in the form of my dedicated

> colleagues, workers and well-wishers had ensured that

> I never failed in executing a project. However, in

> this case, past successes were overshadowed by an

> element of doubt: was I taking on too big a challenge?

> Was I being over-confident about my abilities?

> Although, there was no fear of failure, the stakes in

> this project were too high. Not only was I staking my

> own reputation but that of several individuals and

> entities. Failure would not just taint me but affect A

> Ramakrishna and L & T-ECC as a whole. A leader like

> Chandrababu Naidu, who had, by awarding the job to

> L & T-ECC, reposed great faith in our abilities, would

> also get tainted since he had not called for an open

> tender to save on the time that would be lost in a

> tendering process, (the CM constituted a higher power

> committee to award the contract on nomination basis;

> he also apprised and got the consent of the leaders of

> the major opposition party, the Congress - Ed, IE).

> The failure would be as public and as memorable as any

> possible success.

> " Abu, rush to Madras if you're alive! "

> One of the foremost requirements of this project was

> an able and battle-hardened workforce who would not

> stop at anything to ensure successful completion. My

> thoughts went to one Aboobuker, who had worked with me

> 11 years back and was with me for over a decade. A

> trusted and dedicated worker, his involvement was an

> imperative to face the challenges of this seemingly

> insurmountable task, sent a telegram to his native

> place in Kerala, which read: " Abu, I do not know

> whether you are dead or alive. If you are alive, reach

> Madras the day after tomorrow and meet me. " My

> colleague Subbiah raised a question: " Sir, how do you

> know his present whereabouts? " My answer to that was,

> " if Abu comes to Madras, I will believe that the

> Almighty has blessed me and ordained that this task be

> completed. " I looked upon this as a test, which would

> provide me an indication of things to come. To my

> great surprise and relief, I saw Abu standing at my

> office the day I landed back in Chennai. The moment I

> got out of my car he just bent and touched my feet

> asking, " Sir, what can I do for you? " The answer was

> in my unshed tears. I saw my Hanuman who would leap

> across the seas and help me in our efforts. The

> Almighty had shown me the way. Now there was no way

> that the project couldn't proceed further. I told Abu,

> " go back home and collect 150 workers and reach

> Tirupathi in three days. " I also gave him the name of

> some workers whom I had worked with many years back.

> Without hesitation or question Abu only said " Seri,

> Sir (Yes, Sir). "

> The long delivery-time of pumps cut short!

> First hurdle crossed, we began the next phase of

> operations. Hectic consultations were held among

> myself and my design team, my trusted lieutenants V V

> Subbiah, C Raghavan and S Jagannathan – the project in

> charge. Finally, we arrived at the strategy we could

> adopt for this project and penned down the

> implementation plan. Our basic requirements were four

> units of 640 KW pumps and motors, connected fitments

> in the pump house and around 2000-3000 workers to

> carry out civil jobs, entire electrification and

> automation job.

> We came across our next stumbling block when Subbiah

> said that the 640 KW pumps and motors couldn't be

> procured in less than 120 days. There was an implicit

> issue underlying this statement, which purportedly

> questioned my wisdom in committing a completion time

> of 90 days for this project. My answer was: " a

> decision had been taken and you have only one option –

> to fall in line. " I should be thankful for the

> intelligence and obedience of Subbiah who immediately

> banished all negative thoughts and started to look at

> this project in a more positive sense. I called my

> secretary R Rangarajan and told him: " you will not

> move out of your seat. I will be giving you some

> hundred phone numbers, and it is on you to get me

> these people on the line at the earliest. " The first

> call of mine was to a very senior executive of

> Kirloskar Pumps & Motors. Without much ado I laid

> forward my demands. The conversation went along the

> following lines:

>

> Motors – the long and short of these

> " I need 4 x 640 KWpumps and motors. How fast can you

> deliver these to me? " The answer was " minimum six

> months. "

> " I am talking about six days, you are talking about

> six months. You keep expressing your love and

> admiration whenever we interact. However, when I

> genuinely need your help you are not with me. If you

> really mean what you say and love me, I want these

> pumps to reach us in the shortest time. "

>

> His answer was " I can, perhaps, give it in four

> months. "

>

> Then I again took recourse to the Almighty and said,

> " this is for Tirupati. "

>

> The name of the divine helped and pat came the answer;

> " I will make it in 60 days. "

>

> Emboldened that it was possible, I kept on pushing,

> " 45 days is acceptable. "

>

> In the history of this industry such heavy duty pumps

> had never been supplied in less than six months.

> Again, I would attribute this only to an unseen force,

> which made this possible. This incident pushed my

> confidence level one notch higher.

>

> `A good opportunity to wash your sins!'

> We moved on to the next problem that needed to be

> tackled at the start: procurement of steel. We

> required 450 tonnes of steel plates of a particular

> width, which no steel manufacturer in India rolled.

> Again, I sought the help of another good friend – a

> senior executive of a renowned steel plant. Again,

> invoking the name of the Almighty I called up my good

> friend and I said: " I need these plates. " The answer

> was " Hariharan saab, we do not roll steel plates of

> this width. "

> I shot back: " do not tell me what width you roll. I

> know that perfectly, since I was the one who built

> this plant for you. "

>

> He said: " Sorry. "

>

> I retorted: " I do not want your sorry. I want your

> answer. I want these plates and that too in 3 days. "

> My colleagues sitting in front of me looked

> flabbergasted that I was speaking to a senior

> executive in such an irreverent manner.

>

> I continued: " I will send a team of people. You start

> rolling plates of 1.5 M width, I will arrange laser

> cutting to the width of 1.25 M. I know you will incur

> a loss of more than 20 per cent, but remember you are

> doing this for Lord Balaji. "

>

> I continued in a humorous vein: " In doing so, you

> would have washed your sins to a certain extent. Don't

> you think it is a good opportunity that you should

> avail? " From the other end I heard a good laugh and

> finally the answer I was pushing for came through: " I

> will do it saab. "

>

> Again the hand of the Almighty!

> His " Yes " solved only a part of the problem. The

> bigger problem still remained. We still needed around

> 450 MT of steel, which no other major steel companies

> were willing to provide. Here is where I again saw the

> hand of Almighty. We came across a company, which

> hitherto was never known to make steel in the plate

> form. They were into the manufacture of lamps.

> Surprisingly, this company agreed to manufacture and

> transport the steel that we required all the way from

> Delhi to remote Madurantakam in Tamil Nadu in just

> three days.

> Problem number four stared at us in the face now. We

> had to find someone to roll these steel plates into

> pipes, each about 12 m in length and all this in just

> three days. Divine intervention was again seen when

> the only spiral building company in the South, PSL

> Holdings, readily came forward to execute this task.

> During the normal course, manufacture of these pipes

> would have taken close to 30 days but PSL agreed to

> execute this order in just three days.' The pipes also

> reached Tirupathi, a distance of more 250 km from

> Chennai within a week.

>

> Having ensured that the major requirements of the

> project were secured, we decided to get down to the

> brass tacks of implementing the plan. At this point in

> time I just decided to submit myself to the power of

> the Lord to help me finish this project within the

> stipulated time of 90 days.

>

> A stiff target of 77 days

> I had visited Tirupati exactly 24 years back when my

> elder daughter was hardly a year old. Since then I did

> not have the opportunity to have a darshan of Lord

> Balaji. I requested Subba Rao, executive officer of

> Devasthanam to arrange for my `darshan of the

> Almighty' and also had a special request to give me

> some extended time before the Lord. One usually gets

> only a few minutes. It is to my good fortune that I

> could spend a couple of hours in front of the Lord and

> had a great darshan. My only prayers were: " Oh Lord!

> You never failed me in all these years, don't fail me

> at your doorsteps. " My tears were my " pujapushp " at

> his feet. When I came out after the darshan, I called

> my boys and set a few target dates wherein we were

> required to complete some milestone activities. I

> termed this project a " 77 day wonder " – that was the

> internal target we set for ourselves.

> One other challenge we faced was the question of

> transporting 12 m long pipes through rugged terrain

> and steep slopes to the desired spots. I decided to

> take my " Hanuman " – Aboobucker, into confidence and

> then walked down this demanding, slopy and rough

> terrain. A sudden idea flashed through me. I turned to

> Abu and told him - " can we not launch the pipe using

> these tall trees? " At that point in time it struck me

> that through divine ordinance nature was also going

> all out to help us. And with this process we took all

> the pipes to their respective locations.

>

> We also managed to mobilise 2500 workers from all over

> India within seven days. All through my life of

> handling complex projects, this scale of operations

> was still something that I faced for the first time.

> The transport of material for concreting proved a

> Herculean task. We formed a human chain and also used

> donkeys to transport the same up the treacherous

> terrain. By God's grace and due to careful monitoring

> and precision management of activities we were able to

> achieve the target dates for the milestone events

> accident-free.

>

> Apart from the technical aspects, what would

> eventually ensure the success of this project was the

> enthusiasm level of the people involved in it. A

> project so demanding would eventually take a toll on

> the people. Motivation was hence the need of the

> labour. To demonstrate that the top management was

> equally involved in the success of the project and

> also to show that the gargantuan accomplishments of

> the workers on the ground was not going unnoticed, we

> got our chief A Ramakrishna visit the project site and

> interact with the workers. It is to the credit of

> Ramakrishna that amidst his tight schedule and various

> constraints, he decided to walk down the rugged hills.

> During the course of the walk met all the workers and

> staff. This was a great morale booster for all

> concerned.

>

> The other incident connected with the project, which

> stands out in my memory, is the oath taken by Abu and

> his predominantly Muslim labour force to stay off

> liquor, smo-king and non-vegetarian food for the

> entire duration of the work. This best exemplifies the

> grass roots belief in secularism.

>

> The 'D-day' arrived for testing and commissioning of

> the pipeline. The pressure to be tested was 95 kg /

> cm2. Even though I had been touring extensively, I was

> in touch with Jagannathan, my trusted lieutenant,

> practically on an hourly basis. On the designated day,

> soon after my morning prayers I called Jagannathan and

> enquired about the pressure. His answer was " which

> pressure are you asking about Sir, mine or line

> pressure? " In a choked and shivering voice he said the

> golden words, which we were all waiting to hear –

> " water has reached Tirumala. " The tears that I shed on

> hearing this were tears of joy and relief. This was

> truly one Jagannathan rendering yeoman service to

> another Jagannathan – the Almighty Lord himself. The

> other person without whom this project would never

> have attained completion is Raghavan. Again a

> dedicated, selfless and hardworking individual who

> gave his all to realise this impossible dream. Again

> one Raghavan in the service of another Raghavan – the

> Almighty Lord himself.

>

> `It's not me who did it'

> I am very sure if anyone asks me to repeat this type

> of a job, I will never be able to do this again. It is

> not me who did it.

> This was a project where passion worked for reasons

> that went far beyond money and status. A propensity to

> pursue goals with energy and persistence to hallmark.

> A strong drive to achieve optimism, even in the face

> of failure is not a project executed by men, it was a

> Divine Project executed by men through His guidance

> and blessings.

>

> The author is executive vice president, L & T-ECC

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

______________________________\

____

> Want to start your own business? Learn how on Small Business

> (http://smallbusiness.)

>

>

>

> nArAyaNAya paripUrNa guNArNavAya

> vishvodaya sthitilayonniyati pradAya |

> j~nAnapradAya vibudhAsurasaukhya duHkha

> satkAraNAya vitatAya namonamaste |

>

>

> NârâyaNa, who is an ocean of complete virtues; Who causes the rise,

> sustenance, and fall of the universe; Who gives knowledge, and joy and

> suffering respectively to the good and the evil; Who is a Benevolent

Cause, and is completely beyond comprehension: Him, I salute over and

over.

>

>

>