An engineer who led from the front
One of the pioneers of the Mahaweli Development Scheme, K. Satgunasingam passed away on February 5.
He was involved in the scheme from the inception of the Mahaweli Development Board (MDB) that was formed in 1970, when the design works commenced with only local inputs on a 30-year original programme with minimal foreign consultancy assistance. The organisation was led by Mr. Manamperi as the founder chairman and R. S. Cooke as General Manager. Among the senior engineers from the inception, the names of K.R. de Silva, A. Maheswaran, A. J. P. Ponrajah, Buddhadasa, Douglas Laddhuwahetti, Munidasa Gunaratne, Sivasubramaniam and K. Satgunasingam come to my mind.
During these early stages up to 1977 during Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s government, all the works were handled by local engineers under the Mahaweli Development Board (MDB). Some of the work accomplished during this period were the Polgolla diversion phase of the scheme consisting of the Polgolla barrage across the Mahaweli river, a five-mile long Polgolla Ukuwela tunnel and the Ukuwela power station. The water diverted from this project was diverted via Suduganga to the Bowatenna part of the scheme which included the Bowatenna reservoir, Bowatenna power station, a five-mile long Bowatenna tunnel and the Huruwewa feeder canal and the rehabilitation and new extension canal work for the Kalawewa, Kandalama and Huruluwewa irrigation system which were fed by the diverted water from Mahaweli.
With the change of government in 1977, J. R. Jayewardene, as the then Prime Minister, one day walked into the then Chairman R. S. Cooke’s office with the entire Cabinet and indicated his intention to telescope the entire Mahaweli Scheme from 30 years to six years, with financial assistance from the UK, Canada, Germany, Sweden and other nations. I was one of those who were fortunate to have witnessed this rare event, as a young engineer at MDB head office.
This led to the formation of the Mahaweli Authority (MASL). MDB was assigned the responsibility of doing the development of the canal system and farms under them while the major proposed reservoirs were entrusted to the consultancy and construction organisations of the respective donor countries. Mr. Satugunasingam as the then Additional General Manager (Design) handled all the design works of MDB (later renamed Mahaweli Engineering and Construction Agency (MECA), as the engineering arm of MASL).
This was the period when I had the opportunity to work under him in order to gain design experience as part of my training for obtaining full professional recognition as a chartered engineer. This gave me the opportunity to have a closer acquaintance with him. He was a member of the Institution of Structural Engineers (London) which was a qualification possessed only by a few in Sri Lanka at the time. His long period of exposure with reputed engineering organisations in UK had given him a high level of design related knowledge, and we were able to benefit from this.
He was exemplary in his personal attitude. Though many at his level were not personally involved in field investigations, he himself led the way for young engineers by walking into virgin forests infested with elephants in such areas as Maduru Oya for field investigations to verify first hand the actual field conditions before proceeding with the design. He was very honest and dedicated to his work, and also very concerned and kind towards his staff, going out of the way to help them, of which I too was a recipient on many occasions. He expressed his personal affection for us in many ways. I used to hear him walking along the corridor calling, “where is our fair lady Lanka?” looking for one of his juniors.
He was a victim of the 1983 riots, but it did not embitter him. He continued to remain in and serve the country with a sense of integrity. After his retirement, when he once saw me on the road, he told me that on a visit to a Mahaweli worksite just out of concern, he found that the design work for a structure was very poor and advised me to take more care with the public works since we are responsible to the public whom we serve. This gives a glimpse of the calibre of person that he was, in a society that is self-centred and corrupt to the core.
I feel fortunate to have served and learned from icons such as Mr. Satgunasingam! K. Theivasagayam