Ganga Ram

{{Short description|Indian architect and engineer (1851–1927)}} {{Use Indian English|date=September 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = Rai Bahadur Sir | name = Ganga Ram Agarwal<ref>{{cite web |title=The once glorified Sir Ganga Ram House now in shambles|url=https://dailytimes.com.pk/340251/the-once-glorified-sir-ganga-ram-house-now-in-shambles/}}</ref> | native_name = | honorific_suffix = CIE, MVO | image = Sir_Ganga_Ram.jpg | signature = Signature of Sir Ganga Ram, ca.1914–18.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = Ganga Ram Agarwal | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1851|04|13}} | birth_place = Mangtanwala, Sheikhupura, Punjab, British India (now in Punjab, Pakistan) | disappeared_place = | disappeared_status = | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1927|07|10|1851|04|13}} | death_place = London, United Kingdom | resting_place = Portion of remains scattered in Ganges while the rest are stored in the Samadhi of Sir Ganga Ram in Lahore | religion = | monuments = Samadhi of Sir Ganga Ram near Taxali Gate, Lahore | other_names = "Father of Modern Lahore" | education = | alma_mater = GCU Lahore Thomason College of Civil Engineering (now IIT Roorkee) | occupation = Civil engineer | children = | parents = | relatives = Ashwin Ram Shreela Flather Kesha Ram | known_for = General Post Office, Lahore Lahore Museum Aitchison College, Lahore Mayo School of Arts Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Mayo Hospital, Lahore Sir Ganga Ram High School Hailey College of Commerce The Mall, Lahore }}

Rai Bahadur '''Sir Ganga Ram''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CIE|MVO}} (born '''Ganga Ram Agarwal'''; 13 April 1851 – 10 July 1927)<ref>{{cite web |title=The once glorified Sir Ganga Ram House now in shambles|url=https://dailytimes.com.pk/340251/the-once-glorified-sir-ganga-ram-house-now-in-shambles/}}</ref> was an Indian civil engineer and architect. In view of his extensive contributions to the urban fabric of Lahore, then in British India and now in modern Pakistan, journalist Khaled Ahmed described him as "The Father of Modern Lahore".<ref name="Ahmed2001">{{cite book|author=Khaled Ahmed|title=Pakistan: behind the ideological mask : facts about great men we don't want to know|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hjRuAAAAMAAJ|year=2001|publisher=Vanguard|isbn=978-969-402-353-3}}</ref>

==Early life==

Ganga Ram Agarwal<ref>{{cite web |title=The once glorified Sir Ganga Ram House now in shambles|url=https://dailytimes.com.pk/340251/the-once-glorified-sir-ganga-ram-house-now-in-shambles/}}</ref> was born on 13 April 1851 in Mangtanwala, a village in Sheikhupura District in the Punjab Province of British India (now in the Nankana Sahib District of Punjab, Pakistan) into an Agrawal Punjabi Hindu family.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bureau |first1=Medical Dialogues |title=Sir Ganga Ram Hospital celebrates 64th founders day |url=https://medicaldialogues.in/sir-ganga-ram-hospital-celebrates-64th-founders-day |website=medicaldialogues.in |language=en |date=15 April 2019}}</ref> His father, Doulat Ram, was a junior subinspector at a police station in Mangtanwala. Later, he shifted to Amritsar and became a copy-writer of the court. Here, Ganga Ram passed his matriculation examination from the Government High School and joined the Government College, Lahore in 1869. In 1871, he obtained a scholarship to the Thomason Civil Engineering College at Roorkee (now IIT Roorkee). He passed the final lower subordinate examination with the gold medal in 1873. He was appointed assistant engineer and called to Delhi to help in the building of the Imperial Assemblage.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}

==Career== ===Engineer=== [[File:Front View of Lahore Museum.jpg|thumb|left|The building of Lahore Museum was designed in the Indo-Saracenic architectural style by John Lockwood and Ram Singh while its construction was supervised by Sir Ganga Ram.]] In 1873, after a brief Service in Punjab P.W.D devoted himself to practical farming. He obtained, on lease from the government, {{convert|50,000|acres}} of barren, unirrigated land in Montgomery District, and within three years converted that vast desert into smiling fields, irrigated by water lifted by a hydroelectric plant and running through a thousand miles of irrigation channels, all constructed at his own cost. This was the biggest private enterprise of the kind, unknown and unthought-of in the country before. Sir Ganga Ram earned millions most of which he gave to charity.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}

In 1900, Ganga Ram was selected by Lord Curzon to act as superintendent of works in the Imperial Durbar to be held in connection with the accession of King Edward VII. He finished the work at the Darbar managing its manifold problems and challenges. He retired prematurely from service in 1903.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}

He received the title of ''Rai Bahadur'' in 1903, and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) on 26 June 1903 for his services at the Delhi Durbar.<ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/27568/supplements/4010 The London Gazette, 26 June 1903]</ref> On 12 December 1911, in a special honours list after the 1911 Delhi Durbar, he was appointed a Member Fourth Class (present-day Lieutenant) of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO).<ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/28559/pages/9364 The London Gazette, 12 December 1911]</ref> He was knighted in the 1922 Birthday Honours list,<ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/32716/supplements/4320 The London Gazette, 3 June 1922]</ref> and on 8 July was personally invested with his honour at Buckingham Palace by the King-Emperor George V.<ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/32730/pages/5354 The London Gazette, 18 July 1922]</ref>

He designed and built General Post Office, Lahore, Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore 1921, Lady Mclagan Girls High School, the chemistry department of the Government College University, the Albert Victor wing of Mayo Hospital, Sir Ganga Ram High School (now Lahore College for Women), the Hailey College of Commerce (now Hailey College of Banking & Finance), Ravi Road House for the Disabled, the Ganga Ram Trust Building on "The Mall" and Lady Maynard Industrial School. He also constructed Model Town and Gulberg town, once the best localities of Lahore, the powerhouse at Renala Khurd as well as the railway track between Pathankot and Amritsar. The construction of Lahore Museum, Aitchison College and Mayo School of Arts (now the National College of Arts) was supervised by him as well.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}

====Service in Patiala State==== thumb|Ganga Ram in 1927 CE. He became Superintending Engineer in Patiala State for the capital's reconstruction project after his retirement. Amongst his works were Moti Bagh Palace, Secretariat Building, New Delhi, Victoria Girls School, the law courts and police station.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}

In Tehsil Jaranwala of district Lyallpur (now Faisalabad), Ganga Ram built a unique travelling facility, Ghoda Train (horse pulled train). It was a railway line from Buchiana Railway station (on Lahore Jaranwala railway line) to the village of Gangapur. It remained in use for decades even after Independence. It became useless for need of repair in 1980s. It was unique of its kind. It was two simple trollies pulled on a narrow rail track with horse instead of railway engine.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}

===Agriculturalist=== He took more than 20,000 acres of land on lease from the Government near Renala and cultivated it by completely irrigating the barren land with hydro-electric pumping.<ref>{{cite book |title=Panjab District Gazetteer - Montgomery District Part A |publisher=Punjab Govt Record Office |pages=102 |edition=1933 |url=http://www.panjabdigilib.org/webuser/searches/displayPageContent.jsp?ID=2344&page=122&CategoryID=1&Searched=W3GX |access-date=17 July 2020}}</ref> He purchased thousands acres of barren land in Lyallpur on lease and by using engineering skills and modern irrigation methods, turned the arid lands into fertile fields. He established a Maynard-Ganga Ram award of Rs 3000 with a Rs 25000 endowment. The award was to be made every three years for anyone who made an innovation that increased agricultural production in Punjab.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}

==Death== [[File:Sir Ganga Ram Samadhi 12.jpg|thumb|The samadhi of Sir Ganga Ram in Lahore.]] He died in London on 10 July 1927. His body was cremated and his ashes were brought back to India. A portion of the ashes were consigned to Ganges River and the rest buried in Lahore on the bank of the Ravi River.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}

== Ram in literature == A marble statue of Sir Ganga Ram once stood in a public square on Mall Road in Lahore. In Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto's satirical story, "The Garland," set during the religious riots of 1947, an inflamed mob in Lahore, after attacking a residential area, attacks the statue of Ram. The police arrive and opened fire. As one of those shot by the police falls, the mob shouts: "Let us rush him to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-9-107485-Manto-from-heaven|title=Pakistan down India in volleyball quarterfinal|access-date=30 December 2012|archive-date=13 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120713193207/http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-9-107485-Manto-from-heaven|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[http://pakistaniat.com/2007/04/17/pakistan-lahore-statue-sculpture-lajpat-rai-woolner-victoria-lawrence-ganga-ram/comment-page-1/ The Public Sculptures of Historic Lahore, Raza Rumi, Posted on April 17, 2007]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/17-Apr-2014/the-legacy-of-sir-ganga-ram|title = The legacy of Sir Ganga Ram|date = 16 April 2014}}</ref>

==Legacy== [[File:SirGangaranDelhi.jpg|thumb|Ram's statue, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital]] After the partition of India and Pakistan, another hospital Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi was built in 1951 in his memory.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sgrh.com/about_us|title=Sir Ganga Ram Hospital New Delhi Official Website|publisher=SGRH|language=en|access-date=2019-02-23|archive-date=27 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190127164600/https://www.sgrh.com/about_us|url-status=dead}}</ref> A student hostel, Ganga Bhawan was established at IIT Roorkee (erstwhile University of Roorkee and Thomason college of civil engineering) on 26 November 1957 in his honour.<ref>[https://www.iitr.ac.in/gangabhawan/] Official Website of Ganga Bhawan, IIT Roorkee</ref> The Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan was partially damaged in the blasts that destroyed a nearby Police Station on 27 May 2009.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/27/lahore.blast/index.html Pakistan: Trio held after deadly blast kills 27] CNN.com</ref>

His great-grandson Dr. Ashwin Ram is a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His great-granddaughter, Shreela Flather, Baroness Flather, was a teacher and politician.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}

==Works==

{{Gallery |title=Some buildings designed or built by Ganga Ram |width=200 |height=200 |align=center |File:GPO_Mall_Road_Lahore.jpg|alt1=General Post Office, Lahore|General Post Office, Lahore |File:Lahore_Museum,_Lahore.jpg|alt2=Lahore Museum|Lahore Museum |File:Aitchisoncollege.jpeg|alt3=Aitchison College|Aitchison College |File:Hailey_College_of_Banking_and_Finance.jpg|alt4=Hailey College of Banking & Finance|Hailey College of Banking & Finance }}

==Named after Ram== ===Institutes=== * Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (India) * Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (Pakistan)

===Places=== * Gangapur, Punjab, Pakistan

===Hostel=== * Ganga Bhawan (PG/PhD boys hostel at IIT Roorkee)

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== * Bedi, Baba Pyare Lal, ''Harvest from the desert. The life and work of Sir Ganga Ram'', NCA, Lahore 2003 ISBD 969-8623-07-8 (reprint version)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ram, Ganga}} Category:1851 births Category:1927 deaths Category:Indian Hindus Category:Punjabi Hindus Category:Engineers from Lahore Category:Indian philanthropists Category:People from British India Category:Indian Knights Bachelor Category:Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Category:Indian Members of the Royal Victorian Order Category:People from Nankana Sahib District Category:People from Punjab Province (British India) Category:Indian people in rail transport Category:Rai Bahadurs Category:Businesspeople in agriculture Category:Architects from Lahore Category:Businesspeople from Lahore Category:Patiala State