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The CWAA was part of the 7th INDIA CONSTRUCTION FESTIVAL (ICF) organised by FIRST COUNSTRUCTION COUNCIL (FCC), an infrastructure think-tank set up in 2003, focused on providing latest updates on the construction industry in India, and dedicated to promoting its causes and needs. FCC provides a platform to promote the adoption of best practices and to be the torchbearer for all policy initiatives that are needed to enhance the importance and welfare of the construction industry and the industry’s unified voice.

The CW Person of the Year award

The jury handpicks this awardee from a list of nominees, for their noteworthy contributions to the construction sector.

This year, the jury picked Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhry, Director General, Border Roads Organisation, as the CW PERSON OF THE YEAR in the Public Sector.

Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhry took over as Director General Border Roads in December 2020. In this time, he has truly inspired the BRO to go beyond its potential and rise to become one of the most premier road construction agencies in the country.

In the last 11 months of his tenure as the DGBR, the BRO has achieved many remarkable feats in the world of construction. One of the most notable achievements has been the construction of the world’s highest motorable road at Umling-La Pass at 19,300 ft under his dynamic command and leadership. The BRO has seen a steady rise in the budgetary allocation from Rs 5,000 crore five years back to approximately Rs 10,000 crore presently and is likely to cross Rs 12,000 crore next year. Some of the noteworthy projects being executed by the BRO under Lt Gen Chaudhry’s leadership are the prestigious Sela Tunnel, Nechiphu Tunnel, two important airfields, fencing works and infrastructure development in Arunachal Pradesh, besides strategic roads along the Indo-China, Indo-Pakistan and Indo-Myanmar Borders.

Lt Gen Chaudhry has taken several initiatives to implement new construction technologies in the BRO and upgrade the technical skill set of the organisation to include work on cementitious bases, non-frost susceptible sub bases, new modular bridges, slope stabilisation and use of geosynthetics and M50 blocks in road projects in high altitude and inaccessible areas. He has made a special endeavour to increase transparency in the BRO with large scale automation and digitisation of the road infrastructure. The BRO has also been awarded the Silver Medal for GeM procurement this year by the Government of India for being one of the leaders for procurement through GeM.

The General has especially taken an initiative to improve the living conditions of the labourers working with the BRO and the organisation is now working towards creating decent living conditions for the labourers. Another notable achievement of Lt Gen Chaudhry has been his push towards empowerment of women in the organisation by placing Women Officers in Command positions for the first time in the road construction companies and has created the country’s first ever all women road construction company.

In his 11 months with the BRO, the organization has dedicated 12 roads and 63 bridges to the Nation, surging unprecedently in outcome deliverance.

Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhry is an alumnus of National Defence Academy and Indian Military Academy and was commissioned into Corps of Engineers in 1983. Over the last 38 years of his distinguished service, he has been actively associated with facets of Combat Engineering giving essential combat support to the Army and creation of infrastructure for all the three services and the Coast Guard. He was also especially selected for conceptualising, planning and preparation of the design for India’s first Strategic Command Post with Nuclear protection in the country.

Prior to taking over as the Director General BRO, he was Chief Engineer Southern Command, where he was overseeing construction of infrastructure for Army, Navy, Air force and the Coast Guard with an annual outlay of more than Rs 4,500 crore, and monitoring works to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore. These included state-of-the-art runways, jetties, dockyards, hospitals and other strategic assets besides buildings.

With this superb track record, he is a natural choice for the CONSTRUCTION WORLD Person of the Year – Public Sector. We honour him with pride – and wish him many more milestones on his stellar journey.

The 19th CONSTRUCTION WORLD ANNUAL AWARDS 2021 was presented by Apollo Tyres; with Platinum Partner as APCPO Infratech; Gold Partner - Larsen & Toubro; Silver Partner - Tata Projects; Associate Partners - Welspun Enterprises, Shyam Steel, Dineshchandra R. Agrawal Infracon, Action Construction Equipment, J Kumar Infraprojects, KNR Constructions, GR Infra, Terex India, Sany India and BC India.