Map of Walled City and Citadel of Lahore 1846

I have been experimenting with the old maps of Lahore. The above map is a reconstruction of the map published in March 1846.

Mohenjo-Daro and Floods

 

The 2022 monsoon floods caused widespread damage to life and property as well as to heritage sites. The ancient site of Mohenjo-Daro was damaged so badly that UNESCO mobilized a $350,000 fund to save it.

Floods have been a constant for the people of the Indus Plain for centuries. However, the British intervention in the region changed the geography of the area, leading to more frequent and severe flooding.

The 1973 flood was one of the most devastating floods in the region's history. Till the water of the flood reached the province of Sindh there were already 2,000 causalities in the Punjab. Nearly one million tons of grains were destroyed in the region.

Another common issue that repeated itself in the floods of 2022 was the threat to Mohenjo-daro. Only recently an international symposium was conducted to find ways to protect the ancient site.

The precarious position of Mohenjo-Daro during the floods was again realized after 50 years. One wonders what serious steps were taken to protect the site between 1973 and 2022.

Taming Rivers - Khan Bahadur Abdur Rahman Khan

 

During the late 1950s, the World Bank brokered the talks between India and Pakistan on the river water dispute. Talks were to take place in Washington D.C. On the first day of negotiations, an elderly civil engineer among the Pakistani delegate entered the conference room. While everyone was settling down, he noticed the large map of the Indus basin hung on the wall. He noticed that the whole plateau of Rajputana was included in the Indus basin. Whoever had prepared this map was definitely mistaken. Provided the importance of this forum it was an absurd happening He exclaimed "This map is wrong". This pronouncement created a stir in the assembly and in no time the map was removed. This was the attention to detail of the meticulous Khan Bahadur Abdur Rahman Khan.  

Inducted into the Imperial Service of the Royal Engineers in 1917, he made the best use of his abilities and knowledge in the engineering field throughout his career.

. Recently the autobiography of Khan Abdur Rahman Khan is published by Oxford University Press Pakistan. The manuscript of the book was accidentally discovered after his death.

The book covers life events from his birth to the late 1960s. His life story is filled with struggle, professionalism, and adventure. His professional responsibilities took him to remote places in the NWFP (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) province. Often he had to perform the survey work in precarious conditions where he was often assisted by the military. He had crossed paths with many famed personalities. Amin Ismael famously known as Ismael Gulgee had served under him as a structural design engineer. Ismael Gulgee later resigned and pursued a full-time painting career. He had worked with several British officials and was of the view that they protected their common interest against the natives despite personal differences. He had been in contact with Ayub Khan, Iskander Mirza, Khawaja Nizamud din, and many others and had met them on several occasions. The list of his causal interaction goes on and provide distinct insight into the lives of these men.

The most unique feature of the book is the perspective it gives on the transformation in the profession of Civil Engineering in Pakistan. The book laments the decline of the Civil Engineering profession, especially under the government's ambit. It provides a missing link between what has changed over a century and what had stayed intact. It appears that the bureaucratic complexities are the same.  for example, during 1924-5 Deputy Commissioner of D.I Khan Col. Charles Edward Bruce initiated an inquiry against Abdur Rahman Khan on a complaint of the contractor. It was an entirely misleading accusation for which Abdur Rahman Khan had to personally invite the deputy commissioner and apprise him about the situation. Even today engineers are struggling while working with nontechnical bureaucracy.  

In government agencies, Civil Engineers have adopted managerial roles.  Back in the day, they were connected with field work and quite adept in the design and execution of the works. With time the role of these departments declined. Large works came under the umbrella of the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA). The foreign consulting firms were replaced by the local firms that came in competition with the traditional departments. Over time design works were monopolized by these firms since these were mostly headed by retired government employees. With time the reliance on private consultants increased. The design and technical assignments are now outsourced to these consultants.

Khan Abdur Rahman invented the theodolite-tachometer method that considerably reduced the labor of surveying. He believed that Pakistan had missed a golden opportunity to train highly skilled professional engineers while working with foreign firms at Mangla, Tarbela, and link canal projects.

‘Taming Rivers’ is a missing link between the engineering practices in India during British Raj and present times. It helps to identify the turning points where we had gone wrong in the engineering profession. It is a must-read for engineering professionals today that is surely going to widen their perspective on their profession.

In Picture: Wet Spell In Punjab, 2023

 

 

Damaged crops near Sharaqpur, Punjab, Pakistan (March 31, 2023)

In ancient times agriculture was at the heart of economy and religion. A good yield was an indicator of a Just king and a bad of a tyrant. The western part of Punjab which received very little rain was irrigated through the network of canals in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. The yield pattern of five years was common knowledge. It consisted of a good year followed by a bad year and three years of neither good nor bad. Even with the technological advancements of the 20th century, agriculture is very much dependent on the forces of nature.  Climate, change is challenging the collective rural wisdom of centuries. 

The recent wet spell is welcomed in rain-fed agricultural regions. However, in most of the districts, unexpected losses due to strong winds and hail have damaged the crops.