A Century Worth a Celebration

We (comprising present and past engineers of PWD, Members of B E College Ex-Students' Club, Members of GAABESU) decided to wish Mihirda in person on this special day, since completing 99 years of active life rarely comes for every person. Since the effect of the lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic was ongoing, we thought it would be inappropriate to organise a large gathering and both Mihirda and his son Sabyasachi (1970 Civil) did not like the idea of a gathering, although many were keen to be present on that day. 

Finally. a small team of six, Saumitra Maiti (1983 Civil and CH NH PWD), Amitabha Senguta (CE Headqrs PWD), Dipankar Sarkar (1985 Elec), Parthasarathi Bose (1985 Arch), Jiban Kumar Chaudhuri (1968 Elec) and myself, Syama Prasad Datta (1967 Civil), went to his Salt Lake residence (EC 164) at 4:30 PM on 05 June 2020. Mihirda is still very particular about his time and schedule and conveys his likes and dislikes very clearly. With the initiative and enthusiasm from Saumitra, we could get some books of Mihirda's choice and got our written wish bound in good frame, at a very short notice, during this difficult period of COVID-19. Although Mihirda was against any thing other than a few books of his choice, that too after our insistence, we brought along one dhoti, a flower bouquet and a packet of sweets, apart from the available books of all his choice.

As usual, we enjoyed his company and the interesting chat for a fairly long time, although our initial plan was only for fifteen minutes. Partha and Dipankar took some photos.

Immediately after the photos were uploaded on facebook, Ajoy Debnath (1970) posted one excellent pencil sketch of Mihirda on facebook.     

Mihirda still vividly remembers the date on which the result of his BE Final Exam came out (11 Sept 1945). There was an advertisement in the Statesman newspaper on 16 Sept 1945, inviting applications for 12 positions of Assistant Engineer, in R & B (later PWD). Seven (7) were reserved for Muslim candidates, two (2) for SC and 3 (three) for other than the reserved categories. To complete the selection process before the puja holidays, interview was arranged on 03 October 1945, and the result was published within seven days. Mihirda joined service on 22 October 1945. With a departure from advertisement, three (3) muslim candidates, two (2) SC candidates, and seven (7) candidates in non reserved category, all from B E College, were given appointment. 

Among his batch mates who joined PWD with him or in the next batch in April 1946, included the likes of Arun Ganguly, Pramada Charan Chatterjee, Biswanath Banerjee, Krishna Sankar Sil, Amiya Kumar Dasgupta, Durgacharan Datta, Anil Bhusan Bandyopadhyay, Debipada Ghosh, and Anil Kumar Bhowmick among others. Muslim Officers opted for Pakistan during partition and the others opted for India. A few of those who had joined, left PWD later to join other Govt. organisations.

His batch mates who joined I & W Department included Tripura Charan Chattopadhyay, Jyotsna Kumar Dasgupta, Anil Krishna Mitra among others.  

Service in PWD was mostly on the roads. He also served on deputation in different organisations for a fairly long period, including that with Durgapur Projects, Indian Roads Congress as Technical Secretary for five years, Calcutta Improvement Trust as Chief Engineer for five years, West Bengal Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation as the first Chief Executive Officer, and West Bengal Housing Board as the Housing Commissioner. After his superannuation, his service was availed of in two public sector organisations for three years.

From all of us at GAABESU the B E College Ex-Students Club, we wish Mihirda a happy birthday and look forward to his completing his one hundredth birthday with flying colours. 

WRITTEN BY SHRI SYAMA PRASAD DATTA (1967 CIVIL)

The Telegraph published a heart warming story by Brinda Sarkar to commemorrate this special occasion and this exceptional personality. Please take a read by clicking on the picture below.

Published by: Amitabha Das 1997 EE