Biography of Mr. Bhubanananda Rath
Bhubanananda Rath arrived in the world in 1934 and spent his childhood in Kendupatna, Jagatsingpur and Cuttack. His mother took special care of him and his education .In 1945, he had the opportunity to study in Ranihat High School, Cuttack, He passed out Matriculation in 1st Division with a very high score in 1949.
Then he joined IIT Kharagpur in the 1st batch in 1951 and passed out in 1955 in Electrical engineering with 1st class Honours..He made a mark in the academic sphere and in sports in IIT and got selected as number 1 in the batch of 10 graduate engineers of Hindustan Steel Limited(now SAIL) and joined Rourkela Steel Plant in 1955.He underwent training from 1955 to 1957 in the Technical Institute of TISCO and passed with post graduate diploma in Electrical,Mechanical and Metallurgical Engineering with distinction.Subsequently he was deputed to West Germany for advanced training in Rheinhausen Steel Works,Seimens,Wilcox and GHH.
He was then posted as junior engineer in 128 MW power plant of RSP.Besides his own duties,he was instrumental in training the workmen in operations and maintenance of the captive power plant and faced formidable tasks in switching the employees from their agricultural background to the industrial background in record time.
He received Jawahar Award for outstanding contribution in maintenance and power supply management in RSP in 1975 while he was Chief Electrical Engineer.
He was instrumental in developing good team spirit through cordial,social relationships such as picnic parties and several cultural activities.Intensive training programmes were launched with young engineers and workers.
He was elevated to the position of D.G.M,Maintenance,in RSP in 1981 and subsequently transferred to Bokaro Steel Plant to take up a higher responsibility.He was recalled by SAIL to join back in RSP in 1983 in view of serious power shortage in RSP.Power position improved and so also the steel production thereafter.
The then philosophy of SAIL promoted development of metallurgical engineers and opportunities for the growth of maintenance engineers was limited.This led to his resignation from SAIL after working for 28 years in SAIL and joining NALCO as GM(power) in 1983.From the operation of a sophisticated steel plant ,he landed up at the site of virgin green fields in villages of Angul with sctreeching and screaming bull-dozers and earth moving equipments for giving birth to a 600 MW Captive power Plant for the production of Aluminium.
It was indeed a herculean task for him as the local population is basically litigant by nature.Innovative strategies were evolved to counter numerous agitations against the construction of water supply, coal supply and ash disposal corridors.He ensured that intensive training was launched in co-ordination with NTPC.The executive manpower strength was kept strategically at a higher level which minimized any labour unrest.
Today it is operating above 90 percentage load factor.Apart from meeting the power requirements of NALCO,it has been feeding substantial power to Orissa Power Grid.
As a part of Corporate social responsibility and in countering the agitation of the villagers against land acquisition,he established good rapport with the local political leaders of the affected areas in the water line,coal supply,railway track and ash pipe line.He looked after the repairs and development of school buildings and supported the village community centres by way of gifting T.V sets,etc.Immediate monetary compensation was given for any loss of crops due to construction activities.Employment of the displaced persons were speedily done at the rate of one person per family within 20km radius of the project and also free medical facilities were rendered to such persons.
Lastly he entered into the most challenging period of his profession.He joined as Director (Construction) in Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, Vishakhapatnam Steel Plant in February, 1987, with the task of constructing and commissioning the first shore based 3 million ton steel plant in India.
Unfortunately in the year 1985 onwards,Govt of India was not able to feed funds to the steel plant.A rationalized concept to operate the steel plant at international standards was evolved to construct the plant with lower funds and time.
In 1987,when he joined VSP,it was a great challenge to achieve critical milestones due to dwindling fund flow and consequent demobilization of equipment manufacturers,civil,mechanical,electrical and construction agencies.A sort of fund rationing resulted to accelerate the construction efforts and revised packages were worked out with manufacturing agencies like BHEL,HEC,SIEMENS,AEG and TPE of USSR.Extra contractual steps were taken to sustain HSCL to step up the construction tempo.Added to this,the failure of A.P Govt in construction of the Elluru water supply scheme for supply of cooling water to the steel plant was a matter of great concern.Special packages were worked out by him to get the construction of the canal system under the direct supervision of VSP.Finally the Elluru Water canal was operational in June 1991.
In view of TPE’s failure in supplying construction drawings and manufacture equipments from USSR on time, he was instrumental in establishing direct contact with the top management of equipment manufacturers of USSR and designing agencies like GIPROMEZ.
He took a very bold decision of blowing in Blast Furnace 1 “Godavari” on the 28th of March,1990.After successful commissioning of power plant,oxygen plant and coke oven battery number 1 ,all the units of 1.5 million ton stage was commissioned by November 1990 costing Rs 8500=00 crores.Stage 2 of 1.2 million ton comprising of blast furnace 2(Krishna) ,coke oven battery no 3 and MMSM were commissioned simultaneously on 28th of March,1992.The entire plant was dedicated to the nation on 1st August,1992 by the late Prime Minister Shri P.V.Narasimha Rao.
He was functioning as CMD besides carrying out the functions of Director, construction from November 1990.Initially after incurring losses, VSP started earning profits with effect from 2002-2003.This has enabled RINL to invest another Rs 8500 crores by way of doubling the capacity to 6.3 Million ton.construction of a deep water port at Gangavaram on September 2008 is of substantial financial help in import of coking coal, supply of iron ore and export of steel products to Gangavaram port.
As part of the corporate social responsibility ,VSP reached out to adjoining peripheral areas of about 20km radius to assist the needy villages with free water supply from bore wells.Many villages were adopted near the steel plant and by the ladies club of VSP patronized by the management .Ladies club of VSP were running schools in nearby villages,conducted health camps ,provided clothes to the needy and also donated sewing machines to the underprivileged women of the villages in order to make them self-employed.
VSP received awards from the Govt of India for upkeep of the environment by planting of one tree for one ton of steel produced bt VSP.VSP received many laurels from the Govt ,as for example,the P.M’s trophy for being the best steel plant consistently for many years.Apart from achieving 100 percentage capacity for number of years,VSP has been achieving the best Techno-economic parameter.
He had the unique opportunityof receiving the following awards of recognition due to his outstanding achievements to the steel and power sector.The awards are the following:
1 Arch of India Gold award from NRI institute in their 5th International conference of Indians and NRI’s in Detroit, USA on 9th June, 1992
2. Indira Gandhi Memorial National award 1991 for the best chief executive by A.P Public sector employee federation in September 1991.
3. Udyog Ratan award from the Institute of Economic studies on 3rd October, 1992 at New Delhi
4. Jawahar Nehru Excellence award from the Institute of Economic studies on 14th November, 1992
5. Manager of the year award by the Rotary Club, Waltair on 1st November, 1992
After retiring as CMD of VSP in May 1993, he joined as Chief executive (Projects) in Mukand Limited in 1993 and worked in Mukand Ltd till the year 2000.He was appointed a member of Task Force for power reforms and restructuring in the energy and power dept of Govt of Orissa.
He was nominated as Director in the boards of IPICOL, IDCOL, LLOYDS Metals and engineers India, MOIL, MSTC, BHPV and UB engineering.
He is very much loved by his loving and affectionate wife Mrs Sanjukta Rath and has three caring daughters and wonderful sons-in-laws and very accomplished grand-children.
He expresses his gratitude to all those who have worked with him.
