Civil Engineering School Allahabad: Facilities for higher education were extremely limited in the country during the British Period and were mostly intended for meeting the administrative needs of the country. Therefore, there was an acute shortage of technical personnel of all categories during the war. After the end of the war in 1945 and independence of the country in 1947 , there was a sudden spurt in development activities. The development activities got further boost with the launch of the first five year plan. The country was facing a tremendous shortage of all types of technical personnel in 1955. A large number of people were jobless, whereas a substantial number of jobs could not be filled, because people did not have the requisite skills for filling up the available jobs. Under this context the idea of starting a Civil Engineering School at Allahabad took root sometimes in September 1955.
Allahabad Institute of Engineering Technology: A society, under the name and title of Allahabad Institute of Engineering and Technology was registered at Allahabad in September 1955, for the promotion and development of Civil Engineering School Allahabad. It was headed by Justice Shankar Saran, who was a retired judge of Allahabad High court and was functioning as the Custodian General of Evacuee Property in India, in the aftermath of the partition of the country. Vishwamitra, who was a leading lawyer of Allahabad High Court and was involved in the management of a number of educational institutions was the secretary of the newly formed society. Kunwar Balbir Singh, who had retired as Chief Engineer of Irrigation Department of U.P., Gopalji Mehrotra a retired judge of Allahabad High Court and Dr Banarsi Prasad Saxena a retired professor of Allahabad University were active members of the society. Four other members of the society were senior technocrats and professionals.
Initial steps for the establishment of Civil Engineering School Allahabad: Sometimes in September 1955, Vishwamitra, secretary of Allahabad institute of Engineering Technology took the initiative and after consultations with Rai Bahadur Laxmi Chand Principal of Civil Engineering School Lucknow, issued an advertisement for the admission of 60 candidates for admission to diploma course in civil engineering at Civil Engineering School Allahabad. The course was expected to commence from the middle of October 1955. This was followed by another advertisement for the recruitment of teaching staff that was expected to be needed immediately. There was overwhelming response to the advertisements and the envelops started pouring in at 19, Elgin Road, Allahabad, which was the residence of Vishwamitra. And suddenly, all activities for the establishment of Civil Engineering School Allahabad became critical. Accomodation, equipment and staff were needed to be in place by the middle of October 1955. Those were the conditions, when Vishwamitra rushed to Lucknow in the first week of October 1955 for consultations and support from Rai Bahadur Laxmi Chand, Principal of Civil Engineering School Lucknow. I was working as a lecturer in civil engineering at Civil Engineering School Lucknow at that time and was assisting Rai Bahadur Laxmi Chand in consultations with Vishwamitra. Establishment of an institution from scratch and to make it running in almost fifteen days was a mind boggling preposition. However, on the advice of Rai Bahadur Laxmi Chand, I took ten days casual leave and moved to Allahabad with Vishwamitra for rendering initial assistance in the establishment of Civil Engineering School Allahabad.
Destiny has its own ways: First meeting of the governing body of Civil Engineering School Allahabad was held in first week of October 1955. Till then I had not been consulted and I was not an applicant for any job. Kunwar Balbir Singh had sounded Brij Kishore Agrawal, a retired Superintending Engineer of U.P. Irrigation for the post of Principal. When Vishwamitra introduced my name for the post of principal, there was a furore. Members of the governing body were unable to reconcile to the proposal, that, a young boy of thirty years could be the principal of their institution. Ramesh Chandra was the younger brother of Vishwamitra and was one of the members of the governing body of the society. He had graduated as a Civil Engineer from Thomason College of Civil Engineering Roorkee, was an officer of the Indian Service of Engineers and had retired as Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department of Assam. He was sounded for assuming the responsibilities of the office of Principal of Civil Engineering School Allahabad. He was reluctant to do so. However, he agreed to function as Honorary Principal, provided that he was freed from all responsibilities, associated with the day to day running and management of the affairs of the institution. Accordingly, the name of Ramesh Chandra was approved for the office of Honorary Principal and my name was accepted for the office of Vice Principal and Head of the institution. After the meeting, Vishwamitra broke the news and told me, that, time had come for beginning vigorous activity. These are some of the subtle games, which the destiny plays all the time, with all the twists and turns. I was left with no option and I sent an application to Civil Engineering School Lucknow for leave for the rest of the session.