My summer internship at PWD was an expected experience
because I have interned with PWD last summer too. I was interning under the
executive engineer of PWD, Maintenance Department. The Public Works Department is
responsible for the construction of infrastructure along with providing service
to 24 ministries. It is one of eight executing organs in the Ministry of
Housing and Public Works. It is also the Government's biggest construction
agency. This project was under PWD with a motto to construct 08 nos SPS rooms
including staircase and other miscellaneous repair works at Govt. Co-ed Sr. Sec
School Nehru Nagar to provide more space to the existing school. This project
would cater in fulfilling the basic fundamental right to education. Further in
this era of modernization and sophistication, an engineer should also know the
basic principles of construction which is highly required in many projects
especially in developing economies like ours.
This project required basics of knowledge of civil engineering which was
to be applied with the field knowledge while on site. Being in PWD, the basic
area of focus was on contracts and tender. It involved various types of members
and firms that were required to pool in when the contract was being issued.
There are five classes of firms that can take part in the contract, starting
from class V, moving up to class I and finally reaching class IA. Each class
has its own power of picking up the contract of requisite amount that was being
issued. For example, class V contractors cannot apply for the work of class IV,
III, etc. After a tenure period of specific time, only licence can be upgraded
from one class to another, along with completing specific number of workjobs.
Before the tender is issued, the cost of work has to be decided, which is based
on different kind of work. These include earthwork, RCC work, steel work, wood
and PVC work, flooring, sanitary installation, primer and coating, and lastly finishing.
Each work has been allocated a minimum expenditure that has to be spent on it.
This is how the final tender is made keeping in mind the total cost of work.
Visiting the site was not a daily routine, but at least thrice a week
was necessary. Before the execution of each work, I noted down all the
necessary details. I monitored the work and progress regularly with the junior
engineer. He explained me the work thoroughly and gave me the practical
knowledge to be applied. The first day when I visited the site, I witnessed
that an already existing school building was being extended due to lack of
space. Due to the time constraint the structure that was being made was given
the name, semi-permanent structure. The slab laid was not made up of RCC components.
This was done to reduce the time and to avoid various permissions to be taken
for a permanent structure. The structure was basically a load bearing structure
having a spread footing foundation which is a type of a shallow foundation. It
was a double storey structure with 8 classrooms on each floor with separate
sanitary blocks for men and women.