Committee for mechanised construction works

In the Tuesday weekly meeting yesterday, I advised that a technical group may be formed to devise ways and means to adopt mechanised modes of construction so that projects can be completed quickly. The difficulty often is that (a) the conventional PWD schedule of rates may or may not be suitable for high-speed activities and so there is a need to "pay more for speedy work" and (b) safety, reliability and standardisation norms may not exist in some cases and there is a risk in going beyond norms (what if the bridge collapses? kind of queries).
Hidco has a long tradition of using mechanical equipment. In fact the rate for earth filling jobs using mechanical means was incorporated in the PWD schedule by Hidco engineers. In WBPDCL too, when I was there, I'd observed innovative use of technology. Let's see if we can come up with really reliable solutions -as distinct from few hare-brained schemes of fancy foreign innovators.
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Debashis Gharai of Sakalbela met me yesterday at Hidco. We talked about Solar City Project, Bhagat Singh Bhavan and renewable energy. This is what he wrote in today's Sakalbela: