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History

From the year 1773 to 1858 in the three existing Presidencies in ‘British India' there were separate Military Councils for the construction of government works. For the first time on an experimental basis in 1849, a Public Works Department (PWD) away from the idea of Military Council was set up in newly created Punjab province.

In 1850, a commission under the ‘Court of Directors’ recommended that under 'local government' the execution of civil and military public affairs works should be executed under 'Local Government' within their boundaries. With the above recommendations, Bengal and after wards Bombay and Madras Presidencies starts using the above system with appropriate improvements.

In Uttar Pradesh (then North West Province) Public Works Department was established around 1854 the same time as in Punjab. At that time the following tasks were performed under, Public works department (PWD) of India:

Building and Road works
Irrigation works
Railway works
Military works

In 1854, Government of India appointed a secretary to look after above public works. Colonel W .E. Martin, was Chief Engineer of North West Province in the year 1863-64 and 1865-66 under whom, there were 3 circles and 20 divisions. Colonel D.J. Hodgson, was chief engineer and secretary in the year 1864-65. Up to year 1870, Before the establishment of Thomson college Roorkee, the recruitment of engineers for the public works department was done from ‘Engineering Cores’ of the three Presidencies. Out of which, 40% recruitment was made from ‘Royal Engineers’, 30% from engineering colleges of India and 30% from 'Stanley Engineers' of England.

The department was restructured in the year 1870-71, and executive engineers are posted in each Commissionaires not only for construction work but also act as secretary to the commissioner. Similarly, in each district, every district magistrate had a District Engineer, who was called the sub-divisional officer of the Executive Engineer. Meanwhile In 1871, the name ‘Awadh’ was added to the name of this province. In 1882, under the Local Self Government Scheme, the works of lesser importance and the works of local councils were assigned directly to the District Boards. PWD was again restructured the control of District Magistrate (Collector) was abolished.

In 1894, the control of Thomson College, Roorkee was transferred to the Education Department from PWD. In 1901 the name of the present Uttar Pradesh was changed to ‘United Provinces’. In 1919 the Indian Government passed law to make the Public Works Department as the provincial Service. Since then the department has undergone following changes:

Year and Activities:

1923	Office of Secretary PWD and Chief Engineer was transferred from Allahabad to Lucknow.
1924	‘United Provinces Engineers' Association was formed by departmental engineers at Kanpur on May ‘06.
1927	Public Health Department was established separately from PWD and its control was given to Civil Council.
1931	Railway operations were taken out from the PWD.
1933	Mr. Rai Bahadur Chhuttan Lal was appointed as the first Indian Chief Engineer.
1938	Irrigation works were taken out from PWD and Irrigation Department established.
1941	After the above mentioned restructuring, the PWD was left with only 01 Chief Engineer, 02 Superintending, Engineers and 07 Executive Engineers.
1944	Due to World War II the pace of works under the Military Engineering (M.E.S.) increased and from 1944-45 there were 02 Chief Engineers, 05 Superintending Engineers and 22 Divisional Officers.
1945	Thomson Engineering College Roorkee was again brought under the control of the department.
1946	A research institute was also set up under the department.
1947	After independence, the name of the province became Uttar Pradesh.
1948	Thomson Engineering College Roorkee was made a university and brought under the control of education department.
1963	Departmental Construction Unit (D.C.U.) was established on an experimental basis to carry out works directly under departmental engineers.
1965	Housing Development Board was established to speed up the housing schemes of government.
1970	Rural Engineering Service and Minor Irrigation Department were established to give acceleration rural development.
1972	Uttar Pradesh State Bridge Corporation established for the speedy construction of bridges.
1972	L.S.G.E.D. was renamed to Jal Nigam.
1976	Based on the success of the Bridge Corporation, U.P. Rajkiya Nirman Nigam was established for building construction on departmental pattern, and it added to the glory of the state in the area of building construction.
1976	The State Electricity Board was constituted for electricity production and distribution. In Irrigation Department 'Tube well Corporation’ was formed. In Jal Nigam Construction & Design Services was formed for consultancy.
1980	Four Zonal offices namely Western, Central, Eastern and Hill region, Meerut was created for speedy and better supervision under chief engineers with head quarter at Meerut, Lucknow, Varanasi and Garhwal respectively.
1983	Chief Engineer (Building) was posted for the building works under department in November.
1985	Gorakhpur zone was created with headquarter at Gorakhpur from Eastern region Varanasi in the month of February.
1985	Chief Engineer (National Highway) was posted for National Highway Works with P.W.D. under State In June.
1985	Northwest zone with headquarter at Bareilly from Western zone and South-Central zone with headquarter at Kanpur from Central zone was created in June.
1987	Chief Engineer (E/M) was posted for procurement and maintenance of departmental machineries required for construction and supervision works in August.
1987	Jhansi zone from South-Central zone, Agra zone from Northwest zone and Faizabad zone from Gorakhpur zone was created and Chief Engineers were posted in September.
1990	The name Sarvajanik Nirman Vibhag was changed to Lok Nirman Vibhag in April.
1990	A post of Chief Engineer (Level-1) was created at the headquarters Lucknow for monitoring works of the externally aided World Bank (road project) in December.
1990	Legal Cell established in all Zonal Chief Engineers’ Office in October.
1994	Chief Engineer (Complain) was posted in November.
1996	The posts of Managing Director of UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam and Bridge Corporation were reserved for Chief Engineer of PWD (Level-2) in March.
1996	Moradabad zone (from Northwest zone) and Allahabad zone (from South central Zone) were established in newly created revenue commissionaires in August.
2000	As a result of the formation of Uttarakhand state, the Garhwal and Kumaon regions were transferred to Uttrakhand with proportionate posts and the hill cadre was abolished from department.
2001	For PMGSY works dedicated divisions were named as per the requirement of Government of India in January.
2005	Engineer-in-Chief for Development Rural Roads, Designs and Planning were posted for speedy and better monitoring the Engineer-in-Chief Development also nominated as H.O.D.
2008	Two temporary posts of Chief Engineer (Level-2) in PWD created in August.
2013	Chief Engineers were posted on the Indo-Nepal border in September.