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New Delhi: The 11th CIDC Vishwakarma awards were held at a glittering ceremony on 7 March at Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Center, New Delhi.
The CIDC Vishwakarma awards are inspired by the spirit of construction and creation patronised by Lord Vishwakarma, the ruling deity of construction practices in India. Each year, this event is hosted on 7 March by CIDC, the apex body that’s dedicated to work relentlessly towards promoting best practices within the Indian construction industry.
The objective of the awards are to recognise and honour the valuable contributions and work of the Indian construction fraternity that has significantly enriched the construction domain and has helped bring about a change in our construction practices.
Attended by more than 900 people this year, the 11th edition of the awards saw enthusiastic participation in 16 categories. The impact created by the awards is evident in the testimony of organisations which have taken active steps on the recommendations of the visiting evaluators to raise their performance bars and inculcate best practices in their process.
The maximum traction for this year also remained in HSE & Best Projects categories. The prime objective of motivating individuals the organisations to raise their performance in their specific domain leading to significant contribution for the growth and development of the Indian construction industry remains the driving force behind the success of the awards.
India’s Minister of State, Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation Vijay Goel lauded the efforts of CIDC for its role towards improvement and betterment of the construction industry. He made a special mention of CIDC’s efforts for training of grass root construction workers and for its encouragement to small construction companies and individual entrepreneurial firms and focusing on skill development.
With awards comes more responsibilities – addressing the gathering Shri Goel cited the redevelopment of Heritage Havelis in Chandni Chowk and were he has been actively involved in the redevelopment of the historical area. He encouraged the awardees to work towards achieving higher benchmarks.
In line with tradition of honouring construction industry captains who have made significant contribution to the construction domain, this year, late Dr. Edward Mark Gajanayake de Zylva was posthumously awarded the Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya Trophy for Life Time Achievement Award.
Dr. Eddie de Zylva was known by all the sectors of the construction industry as the ‘Godfather of the construction industry’.
Dr. de Zylva pioneered the formation of the National Contractors’ Association of Sri Lanka (NCASL), now known as the Construction Association of Sri Lanka. This is the only organisation of construction contractors covering the entire country. The Construction Industry Guarantee Fund was his brainchild which helped small and medium contractors receive bank guarantees and further their business.
The swath of the awards now extends from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Gujarat to Arunachal. As the years pass by, CIDC Vishwakarma Awards have donned the mantle of a change agent. The aspirational quotient of the award lures the best projects and companies in the domain to partake in the 10-month process from announcement of the awards to its closure and successful conduct of the ceremony. The participation of companies from far-flung places and some small and medium sized enterprises that are doing good work in remote areas was very evident this year.
The process of due diligence for the awards, indeed a robust one, never deterred the enthusiasm of the awardees who are always eager to imbibe the suggestions of evaluators for continual improvement great importance for follow-up visits to guide the awardees on a path of constant excellence.
To further broad-base the awards, the Jury this year decided to award ‘Indian Association of Muscular Dystrophy’ (IAMD) for their utmost commitment in undertaking self-less and inspiring work which has enriched the lives of numerous people suffering from muscular dystrophy. This has been well appreciated by the entire fraternity. CIDC has also undertaken to handhold and provide support whenever and wherever it is needed to take the industry to the next level.
This year, a total of 198 awardees were chosen and distributed 49 trophies, 90 medals and 59 certificates in 16 prime categories such as Achievement Award for Industry Doyen, Achievement Award for Social Development and Impact, Achievement Award for Public Officer, Achievement Award for Scientist, Academician, Technologist, Innovator, Best Professionally Managed Company, Achievement Award for Best Construction Projects, Achievement Award for Artisans and Supervisors, Achievement Award for Best HR Practitioners, Achievement Award for Construction Health, Safety and Environment, Achievement Award for Construction Skill Development, Achievement Award for Construction Education, Achievement Award for Best Pre-Engineered Building, and Achievement Award for Best Archived Projects, Achievement Award for Best News Magazine and Achievement Award for Best Online Publication.
Women’s participation is always encouraged and the awardees this year included: Dr. K. Vidhya, Professor and Head, Department of Civil Engineering, Mahendra Engineering College and Dr. Alka Mittal, Director (HR), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC) and Shilpjit Kaur, Dy. Chief Manager, Simplex Infrastructures Ltd.
The uniqueness of the CIDC Vishwakarma Awards is reflected in its recognition of contributions made by individuals such as grass root construction workers, artisans who often belong to marginalized sections and economically and socially weaker sections of the society. As per our tradition of awarding our unsung heroes, the artisans and supervisors, who work tirelessly to create the wonderful assets that benefit the entire nation, this year, a total of 10 artisans and 34 supervisors were awarded with commemorative trophy, medal and certificate in various trades. Belonging to they were full of enthusiasm and participated in the ceremony with their families. Their spirit and grit is always applauded by the awards.
This year a total of 38 CIDC Partners in Progress trophies were also given away as a token of appreciation to honour organisations that have been CIDC’s partners in progress and who have displayed their utmost commitment and drive to create a vibrant work environment for the construction fraternity especially for achieving targets of “Mission Skilling India”. Their efforts were applauded and the spirit and support extended to CIDC for facilitating initiatives for growth and empowerment of our unsung heroes – the grass root construction workers encouraged.
The Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC), the apex body set up by the Planning Commission and the construction industry, recognises the role of a national award for motivation and improved performance of individual workers, artisans, field supervisors, project owners, project implementers and has conceived the CIDC Vishwakarma Awards as an award of excellence.
