Vol. 10 · pages 241–245

224 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES The basis of the discussion was a note circulated by the Central Government regarding the procedure for collecting necessary information. Suggestions made in this note required that the three Governments should prepare an inventory of the facts and figures available to each other. This inventory was to be prepared in consultation with the Central Government’s technical experts, and, if it did not disclose all the facts required further information should be collected. The Central Government’s technical experts could than prepare a preliminary memorandum setting out the prospects for a co-ordinated scheme for the multi-purpose development of the Damodar Valley. The three Governments should then get together and give the necessary instructions for framing a project to the technical experts of the Central Government and the Provinces. General Agreement While there was general agreement on the question of making the Damodar Scheme a multi-purpose project, representatives of Bengal emphasised that the problem of controlling floods in Damodar should be a primary concern. After some discussion, it was agreed that investigations on the lines suggested by the Central Government should start under Mr. Man Singh, Special Engineer (Irrigation) with the Bengal Government. The Central and Bihar Government would try to lend officers to assist Mr. Man Singh in this investigation. Mr. A. Karim, Deputy Chief Engineer, Irrigation Department, Bihar, would remain in touch with Mr. Man Singh. Earlier during the meeting Mr. H. C. Prior, Secretary, Labour Department, Government of India, spoke about the administrative side of the waterways problems and indicated days and means by which the Centre could lay its part. * * * Among those who attended the Conference were the Hon’ble Mr. B. P. Paine, Minister for Communications and Public Works, Bengal Government, Mr. B. Sarkar, I.C.S., Secretary, Communications and Public Works Department. Mr. B. L. Subarrwal, Mr. J. F. Russel, Chief Engineer, Bengal, Mr. Man Singh, Special

225 DAMODAR VALLEY SCHEME CALCUTTA CONFERENCE Engineer (Irrigation), Mr. N. K. Bose, Director, River Research Institute. Mr. N. Dar, Secretary, Post-War Reconstruction Committee, Mr. H. M. Ishaque, Development Commissioner and Mr. A. Karim, Deputy Chief Engineer, Irrigation Department, represented the Government of Bihar. Mr. H. M. Mathews, Chairman, Central Technical Power Board, Mr. W. L. Voorduin, Hydro-Electric Member of the Board and Mr. D. L. Mazumdar were also present to represent the Central Government. zz

40 * Post-war Electric Power Development A schedule of heavy power equipment required by India as soon as possible after the cessation of hostilities has been prepared and steps have been taken to reserve for India the necessary manufacturing capacity, said the Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Labour Member, Government of India, in his address to the second meeting of the Policy Committee on “Public Works and Electric Power” held in New Delhi on February 2. Here is the full text of Dr. Ambedkar’s speech : I should like to begin by extending to all the representatives, old and new, present at this meeting a most hearty welcome. I say old and new because we have on our Committee new members who were not on the Committee when we met last. They are the nominees of the Federation of Electrical Undertakings in India and of the Indian Trade Union Congress. Electrical undertakings and organised labour are both vitally concerned in the future of electrical development in India and whatever they may have to say about the subject must receive due consideration in any decision that may be arrived at. I am sorry that an omission to have them with us should have occurred last time. I apologise for it, for it was indeed a very serious omission. I am sure we are all very glad to have them with us today and will be looking forward to their contribution to the discussion of the subject we have before us. Power Engineers’ Conference I believe it would be of some advantage if I were to begin the few observations I have to make as Chairman by referring to what has been *Indian Information, February 15, 1945, pp. 235-41.

227 POST-WAR ELECTRIC POWER DEVELOPMENT done by the Government of India in furtherance of the postwar planning for electrical development since the Committee last met on October 25, 1943, as most of you may have no knowledge about it. Soon after the last meeting of this Policy Committee, Mr. Mathews, the Electrical Commissioner with the Government of India, with the approval of Government, called together a Conference of leading power engineers in the country, both official and non-official, to consider postwar electric power development. The first thing the Conference did was to prepare a schedule of the heavy power equipment required by India for electric development immediately after the war. In addition to this the Conference passed certain resolutions all of which, to use the language of the report, “represented the unanimous conclusion of their studies, investigations and discussion.” These resolutions fell under four heads :— (1) Under the first come recommendations which set out some general and specific suggestions to the Provinces and States to be observed by them in regard to electrical development within their jurisdiction. (2) Under the second were grouped those which concerned the appointment of the Technical Power Board. (3) Under third come those related to certain prospective power developments considered by the Conference to the prima facie worth investigation without dalay. (4) Under the fourth head were placed those which relate to railway electrification, manufacture of synthetic fertilisers and rural electrification. As the members of the Conference said in the letter accomanying their findings, “this is the first occasion on which the power development programme has been reviewed as a coordinated whole and that the presence of engineers whose experience covers in the aggregate the varied conditions of the whole of India, has introduced an extremely valuable element in co-ordinating regional needs.” Heavy Power Equipment I am sure you will agree that we owe the Conference a great debt for unfolding to us the prospective electric power development for the

228 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES whole of India in the period immediately succeeding the cessation of hostilities in such clear cut manner. The Conference asked the Government of India to take appropriate action on the several recommendation made by them. The two recommendations in regard to which action lay with the Government have been already put into effect. They relate to the securing of equipment and the establishment of the Technical Power Board. A schedule of heavy power equipment required by India as soon as possible after the cessation of hostilities has been prepared and steps have been taken to reserve for India the necessary manufacturing capacity. The total capacity reserved come to over 850 megawatts, at an estimated cost of Rs. 50 crores approximately. The aggregate of new capacity represented by these schedules comes to nearly 65 per cent of India’s existing installed capacity. A more detailed inquiry might show that our requirements for equipment are larger than what has been booked for. But as it was impossible to delay the matter without putting India’s interest in grave jeopardy, we had to take action immediately on such data as could be collected within the limited time that was available to us. Technical Power Board As you must have noticed from the Press Note issued on November 8, 1944, the Government of India has constituted a Technical Power Board. Besides the Chairman, the Board will initially have two full-time members and three part-time members. The Government of India has appointed Mr. Mathews, Electrical Commissioner with the Government of India, as the Chairman and has obtained the services of Mr. W. L. Voorduin from the United Stales of America as another member of the Board. Before he came to India, Mr. Voorduin was employed as a Project Officer of the Tennessee Valley Authority. It is proposed to have a third member to be called the Utilisation Member. Effort is being made to recruit a suitable Engineer who is conversant with Utilisation. These appointments of high level experts will assure you how very anxious the Government of India is to make the Board a strong technical organisation designed to collect ideas, conduct surveys and prepare schemes for the electrical development in consultation with Provincial and State Governments. I have referred