Narayanrao Vishwanath Kanetkar (1932-2006)
Recollecting histories of Pune’s Engineers and Builders
Upon his graduation in 1955 from Walchand College of Engineering, Sangli, he started his career with a brief stint in the Military Engineering Services. He then worked with the renowned firm M/s S.B.Joshi & Co. for more than a decade. On a trip to Europe, in 1966, he studied upcoming construction methods. In 1969, N. V. Kanetkar started his own contracting firm in Pune under the name of M/s Kanetkar & Associates.
Between 1971 and 1973 Kanetkar & Associates built the bridge near Balgandharva Rangmandir. This bridge, composed of prestressed concrete box Girders, comprises four spans of 125 ft. length and 72.00 ft. wide. In 1977 Kanetkar built the Lokmangal Central Building designed by architect V.V. Badawe for the Bank Of Maharashtra. This pioneering project was one of the first buildings in Pune with an aesthetic of exposed reinforced concrete. Architect V.V. Badawe felt the precision formwork could only be entrusted to N.V. Kanetkar.
Kanetkar & Associates were also instrumental in the construction of the National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM), Kondhwa, designed by architects Kanvinde Rai & Chaudhari from New Delhi. He was part of a consortium that included structural engineers Kanitkar & Kulkarni from Pune and Sharad R. Shah from Bombay.
In the 1980s N.V. Kanetkar constructed the Garware Subway Crossing at Deccan Gymkhana and dedicated himself to the betterment of the construction industry. He was the founder member of Pune Construction Engineering Research Foundation (PCERF, 1983) and former President of AESA (1984-85). He was elected Honorable Secretary of the Builders’ Association India, Pune Centre in 1987 and acted as its Chairman from 1988 to 1989. He was also Executive Committee member of Pune Local Centre of Institution of Engineers. He occasionally organized training courses for construction trades and supervisors in particular.
Image Courtesy: Atul Kanetkar