“Efficient managers, well equipped industries, trained technologists and skilled workmen constituted the true wealth of the Nation” – Sir M Visvesvaraya

“We design, We Construct, We Observe, We Initiate, We Drive, We Move, We Accelerate the World, We are the gears of Progress, We are the future of the Nation, We are Engineers, and I am Proud to be an Engineer” – a Civil Engineer’s Thoughts.

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Mangaluru: As a Civil Engineer’s testimony goes like this, “Roofs help us to survive, But we build it. No software, No hardware without a proper roof. When civil engineers rest, the world rests. Civil Engineer forever. Civil Engineer rules. Civil Engineer Rocks-Proud to be a Civil Engineer”, many proud civil engineers had gathered at Hotel Ocean Pearl convention Hall for the launch of “Engineers Week-2016” which was held on Friday, 18 March 2016. The audience predominately comprised of civil engineers, civil engineers and more civil engineers, except for a few builders and entrepreneurs.

The “Best Engineers” in town belonging to Association of Consulting Civil Engineers (India) – Mangalore Centre, in association with ACC Ltd ( Concrete Cement Company) have chalked out 35 plus programmes under the “Engineers Week -2016 comprising of Seminars, Technical Talks and Training, which will be held at various engineering and polytechnic institutions around and beyond the DK district to celebrate the creative problem-solving role engineers play in making the world the better, safer, more enjoyable place for us all to live.The week includes hands-on activities and presentations designed to introduce youngsters to the excitement of engineering and the importance of technological literacy, which will be educative, constructive and effective.

And ACC Limited, as ‘Sponsor’/partner of ACCE’s “Engineer’s Week” has pledged to connect engineers and other technology professionals with organizations/institutions to have various informative and creative programmes during the “Week”, thereby bringing a positive impact on people around us. With innovative concrete solutions delivered by ACC, the people you can trust, both the ACCE and ACC can build a better nation-and ” Yes, together they can !”. Seeking God’s blessings through a rendition of a religious quote by Er Vimal Keerthi Jain, the meeting was called to order by ACCE Chairman-Er T Vinayak Pai , who also welcomed the gathering. In his welcome address, Er Pai said since its inception the association grown into a full fledged organization and has reached greater heights through various activities and projects, and he owed the strength and success of ACCE to the support and active involvement of the members, and kind hearted support shown by various sponsors like ACC, RAMCO, UltraTech and so on.

Briefing on the” Engineer’s Week-2016′ the dynamic, energetic and multi-talented past chairman Er Vijaya Vishnu Mayya quoting Henry Ford’s words, “If You Think You Can Or Can’t, Either Way You Are Right” said, ” Although there are over 35 programs planned during the Week, we are confident that with the support and encouragement from the members, sponsors and participating institutions we will accomplish our goals and make the Week a grand success”. The “Engineer’s Week-16” was launched by Dr HN Gopalkrishna – Commissioner, Mangaluru City Corporation, along with other dignitaries on the dais namely Maroor Rammohan Pai – President, Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industries; Veeranna Patil – Deputy General Manager, ACC Ltd; Er T Vinayak Pai – Chairman, ACCE; Er Anil S D’Souza – Vice Chairman, ACCE; Er Mohammad Iqbal – Secretary, ACCE; ER Vijaya Vishnu Mayya and Er Umesh Shetty, both Advisors of Engineers Week; Er Premanand A – Treasurer, ACCE; and Conveners of Engineers Week – Er G Narendra Prabhu and Er Sathyaranjan Rao.

Addressing the audience, MCC Commissioner Dr Gopalkrishna said, ” Yes, a City like Mangaluru really depends on Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, but above all the Civil Engineers for the growth and infrastructure. With the dedication, volunteerism and enthusiasm of all the engineers, and their close relationship with MCC many projects have been accomplished. Engineers should follow in the footsteps of great engineer Sir Visvesvaraya, who has done so much for the growth of Karnataka and India. In making Mangaluru a Smart City, the help of engineers is very much needed. We should be happy to note that our City was graded as the Third Cleanest City in the Nation-we could have bagged the first place, but due to untimely submission of few development reports resulted in losing points.”

Dr Goplakrishna further said, ” It’s sad to note that when good engineers have some good ideas for city development, but during the time of implementation we fail either due to various drawbacks, political interference and other issues. We all know that India has intelligent and smart engineers, and many of them go abroad and offer their talents and services there. Instead our smart engineers should stay in their homeland, and create something unique to make it a ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’. Long live the Engineers”.

Maroor Rammohan Pai speaking said, ” Why is the building industry going slow these days? The sad part is that we have so many new apartments coming up in the city, but many of the flats are occupied for investment by those living in foreign countries. Real and hard working Mangaloreans don’t get an opportunity to own these flats. My suggestion is that instead of having flats with over 1000-3000 or even more square feet size costing over Rs 50 lakhs, why not construct flats within 400-500 sqft so that a common hard working Mangalorean family can afford to buy one.”

DGM of ACC Ltd Veeranna Patil addressing the engineers said, ” It has always been a pleasure for ACC Ltd to be associated with ACCE in their projects during their prestigious Engineers Week celebrations for the last six years, and we want to continue the same trend in future also. At the beginning when Engineers Week was launched for the first time, there were only 7-8 programmes planned, but now we see between 35-50 programmes, which proves tremendous success and dedication of ACCE members in organizing them. At ACC Ltd certain plans have been chalked out to form a close bonding between ACCE and ACC Ltd, so that creative projects could be undertaken jointly for the betterment of the City and Country”.

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Dr KS Babu Narayan – Professor at Department of civil Engineering NITK- Surathkal gave a technical talk on “Make In India – What We Must”, where he through a audio-video presentation gave an example how a City in Japan created a safety measure through a unique technology to prevent loss of lives and structures during times of heavy rains/floods etc. “India has cities which could be affected by floods due to heavy rains or other natural means. Just recently Mumbai and Chennai faced a disastrous situation due to heavy rains/floods. To avoid such catastrophe in happening again in these cities and many other coastal cities, India should also come up with some plans like what the City of Japan did, in order to save lives and buildings” added Dr Narayan.

The vote of thanks was proposed by Er Mohammad Iqbal- Secretary of ACCE, while the entire function was professionally compered with a few witty punches by Er Rajendra Rao Kalbhavi. The evening also showed that ” Engineers” can also be ” Entertainers” ! Few of the members of ACCE unleashed their hidden talents of singing by performing to the audience, while they were socializing and having dinner. It was indeed a revelry time, where these crooners/Engineers namely Vinayak Pai, Vimal Keerthi Jain, Vijay Vishnu Mayya, and many others took the audience into a world of music with their melodious voices.

I end this report with a witty quote, ” To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the glass is half empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be “. Cheers, and best of luck to ” Engineer’s Week-2016″.