From fencing the border in Rajasthan, to building the Parliament Library in the last two years and to laying J-K’s Dhar-Udhampur Road in the ‘60s, the CPWD has been part of every brick-and-mortar story the country has its stamp on.Set up in 1854 by the British, the CPWD’s history seems to run parallel to the history of Modern India. From helping colonial architects construct Delhi’s ‘‘unforgettable Central vista’’ (including Rashtrapati Bhavan, North-South Block) — as Deputy PM L.K. Advani put it — to everything around the Raisina Hill edifice, goes to the CPWD’s credit.‘‘We are the silent workers who build this nation,’’ said Additional Director-General Basab Mazumdar. ‘‘When a foreigner carries an impression of India, he is carrying the memories of the unpublicised work done by CPWD,’’ Advani said addressing the seminar on ‘Role of CPWD in National Development’ to mark 150 years of the department. When the January 26, 2001, earthquake reduced a large part of Gujarat to rubble, it was only the CPWD buildings that withstood the quake.
