The Untold Story: How Mining Engineers Became Part of L&T’s Elite Construction Engineering Team

L&T is known as a respectable professional Organization and their well-paid staff are treated with dignity and respect most of whom are recruited via Campus interviews from reputed Institutes/Universities' Construction Division HQ is based in Chennai and their construction portfolio until 1990 was high rise buildings, mega hospitals, malls, star hotels, stadiums, factories etc. The opening of the Indian economy in 1990 triggered infrastructure boom, so the Management decided to diversify from construction of building to construction of highway roads, dams, airports and such other heavy civil jobs. Unlike buildings, all these above mentioned heavy civil jobs require huge requirement of aggregates necessitating opening multiple stone quarries and high-capacity stone crushers - and, of course, qualified & experienced staff to identify and manage these quarries to be located to the nearest Project sites pan India. The Management came to know of my availability in-house- with the right qualification, experience at right age and called me for an interview.

The interview panel consisted of 3 top management brass of the Company- Chairman of the panel being the President himself- namely AR.

AR, in his characteristically warm manner, asked about my 25-year career as a Mining Engineering professional. He particularly probed why I had not stayed more than a couple of years in any one company. The explanation required some detail: anyone aspiring to become a top Mining professional — which I eventually became — must appear for and qualify the First-Class Mines Manager’s Competency Examination, conducted on an all-India basis by the Board of Mining Examination under the Ministry of Labor. Since mining is inherently hazardous, only certified individuals are authorized to hold key positions where hundreds of workers operate day and night. To even sit for the exam, you must accumulate specific years of experience across prescribed categories of mines — this was one of the major reasons for my job changes.

AR and the panel listened closely. This information was perhaps new to them, but they were evaluating whether a senior Mining Engineer — and that too a lateral hire — would fit into their civil-dominated site operations.

Before the interview, I was told that ECC was diversifying into highways, airports, hydroelectric projects, mega seaports, etc., and would require multiple high-capacity stone quarries. A seasoned Mining Engineer with strong knowledge of legislation and safety practices could be an asset to the civil engineering team.

AR’s probing questions clearly revolved around this suitability. From his body language, I sensed that my carefully thought-out answers were landing well.

Then AR looked at one of the panel members , “Any questions?”

The member, waiting for that cue, fired off rapid-fire questions on drilling and blasting in tunnelling (I later learned he had worked in tunnelling before joining ECC). I fielded these confidently, elaborating on the latest trends — including how TBMs were reducing the need for conventional drill-and-blast. I also clarified that although I had no hands-on tunnelling experience, I always kept myself updated on technological developments. I noticed the other silent member and AR nodding appreciatively.

Next AR asked me:

“Do you have any questions?”

“Yes, sir,” I replied. “What is my career future in an organization dominated by Civil Engineers?”

“A good question,” he said. He then explained his vision for strengthening the Quarry Department and elaborated on L&T’s ongoing diversification into roads, ports, and Hydro projects etc., all of which required mechanized, high-volume quarry and crushing operations. Then he asked:

“Will you be able to take up the challenges?”

My confident “yes” seemed to reassure him. "The current Quarry Department head was due to retire in a couple of years — and if all went well, that position could be yours subject you satisfy us by  your performance and ability to handle crisis situation in the field'.

Within a couple of months of my accepting the offer and joining at their HQ, I was given an assignment of crisis situation which required me to rush to Kathmandu to resolve a blast induced vibration problem .

From Kathmandu I had to travel about four hours to the project site near the China border.

The Project Manager, stationed at Kathmandu, summarized the matter briefly: the situation was serious as the Canadian Consultant of the project had stopped all the civil activities till the blast vibration level brought to acceptable level and more details would be available from the Construction Manager (CM) at site.

At site, around noon, I joined the CM and the blasting team to inspect the area and understand the issue firsthand.

Project Background:

Trishuli Hydropower Project, about 70 km northwest of Kathmandu, is Nepal’s oldest hydro project and still operates efficiently. L&T built the upgraded infrastructure in 1995, adding six new units alongside the existing seven.

The Problem :

New piers were to be constructed close to the old ones. Hard rock excavation was needed for foundation work, but vibration had to be kept extremely low. A trial blast was carried out earlier with a local licensed blaster — and the resulting vibration shocked the Canadian consultant. Hence, the stoppage.

After a brief conversation with the native blaster (whose knowledge was basic) and an assessment of field conditions, the CM and I explained our revised approach to the consultant.

Solution proposed:

1.    No conventional blasting. Only rock splitting using minimal explosives (thanks to naturally jointed rock).

2.    Change of explosive from high-power gelatin cartridges (imported from India) to low-power slurry explosives available locally.

3.    Slurry explosive advantage: specific gravity >1, hence it sinks in watery holes; where gelatinous explosives float on water.

4.    Modified drilling pattern — depth, spacing, burden adjusted to explosive strength and initiation sequence.

5.    Changed initiation system from instantaneous firing to delay sequence.

6.    Increased number of holes from 15 to 50 due to delayed initiation requirements.

The consultant seemed satisfied and approved a new trial blast.

The Trial blast:

The consultant seemed satisfied and given go ahead signal with new blast design , & selected the trial location himself. On the day of the trial, he parked his Jeep at a safe distance, placed a glass of water on the bonnet, and said:

“If the water spills, no further construction work will continue. If it remains still, I will approve your plan.”

During the earlier blast, the glass had toppled off.

He sat inside the Jeep; eyes fixed on the glass. I gave the fire signal. There was only a soft, muffled sound. The water in the glass didn’t move.

He rushed to the site and found the rock split neatly to 2–3 feet depth across the drilled area where 50 holes were drilled just as envisaged. The split rock could be removed manually or with a JCB.

He was pleased, and instructed the CM to strictly follow the revised plan. He asked me to stay a few more days to train the supervisory team and streamline implementation — which we did to his complete satisfaction.

He shook my hand and congratulated me for applying explosive engineering knowledge to solve the issue smoothly.

Similar appreciation received upon my return to Head Quarter.

Aftermath:

This episode marked a turning point. Soon, more and more Construction Managers sought support from Mining Engineers for hard-rock excavation and explosive-related activities. Recognizing their specialized skills, Mining Engineers gradually became an integral part of L&T’s civil engineering project teams.

Today, no fewer than 75 Mining staff serve across projects in India - happy to note some of them are Ex-APT —

The takeaway from the above real story is — Knowledge is Power. Do not disregard /dismiss theoretical domain knowledge, after all they are the out come of field tested/time tested practical wisdom.

From the Author - Mr. P K Govindaswamy , a true pride of Asansol Polytechnic

(Mining - 1969 Batch)

Thank You