Honorary Magistrate, Sardar Bahadur, Sir Sobha Singh , M.L.C., M.P. (March 5, 1888 – 18 April 1978) was an Indian civil contractor, prominent builder, and real estate developer contracted to construct several major structures during the development of New Delhi by the British as the seat of its colonial empire.
Not only a builder, but he was also a subordinate architect and part of the Council of States laying the foundation of development schemes across cities and running various businesses. He came to be described as "Adhi Dilli ka Malik" (the owner of half of Delhi) as he virtually owned half of Lutyens' Delhi. He played the largest part in the early industrial construction in Delhi in the 1920s and 1930s, along with being a main participant in the Westernization and modernist collective Indian identity. He was a proficient real estate developer and a Sikh business icon.
He also became the first Indian president of the New Delhi Municipal Council and held the post four times, in 1938, 1942, and 1945-46.Ex-Presidents New Delhi Municipal Council. Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) in the 1938 Birthday Honours, he was subsequently appointed a member of the Council of States. He was knighted in the 1944 Birthday Honours. He also built Sujan Singh Park, named after his father, New Delhi's first apartment complex, which only had bungalows till then, in 1945, designed by Walter Sykes George. He became a member of the Central Legislative Assembly, but opposed and desisted from any sort of politics.
Early life and family Sir Sobha Singh was born in 1888, in the village of Hadali in Khushab, Shahpur District – then part of British India (now Pakistan). He was the elder of the two sons of Sardar Bahadur Sujan Singh and Lakshmi Devi, the younger one being Sardar Bahadur Ujjal Singh, who was a member of Parliament in India along with the governor of Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
He was pulled out of school before giving his final exams, as his father believed that to make money one only needed addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and how to calculate simple and compound interest, although he wanted to learn English, he could not till much later. He was married at the age of 17 to a 13-year-old girl from a village named Mitha Tiwana neighboring Hadali, her name was Varyam Kaur- but to others she was known as Lady Sobha Singh. She was the daughter of Sardar Harbel Singh, Rais, of Jaranwala who owned cotton spinning factories. Sobha Singh's father, Bhai Sujan Singh Hadaliwale, constructed many buildings in Sargodha and Multan.
Early career Sujan Singh and Sobha Singh were called to the Central Public Works Department to start plans for the construction of New Delhi. He started by developing the roads of Delhi, including Alipur Road. Sobha Singh and his father were guests at celebrations of the Coronation of the King and Queen near Delhi in 1911 due to their work in canal irrigation, development, and construction of roads and rail tracks, invited by Sir Malcom Hailey, Baron of Shahpur. Hailey knew Sujan Singh since 1905 while constructing sites in the Shahpur area. Compared to the other contracting families, they were more experienced, they owned land in Shahpur, had an extensive camel transport business, and contracted the Kalka-Simla Railway line.
Delhi Conspiracy Case On 23 December 1912, he was an eyewitness to the Delhi Conspiracy Case, when the Viceroy's elephant was bombed, although no one except an umbrella-bearer was killed. When people dispersed after seeing the bombing, all the witnesses believed that the English would massacre the local Indians, hence, Sujan Singh and Sobha Singh went to Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib and shut the gates of the Gurdwara to make sure the Guru Granth Sahib was safe. Once night fell, they both walked back to their residence in the dark, while Sujan Singh muttered, 'Wahe Guru, Wahe Guru'.
Foundation Stone of Delhi Sobha Singh's first job was to relocate the foundation stones from where the King and Queen had laid them, in Kingsway. Under cover of darkness (so it would not be taken as a bad omen), he moved them to the new site 11 kilometers away on Raisina Hill, and was only given 16 rupees for the job. Sobha Singh was accepted as a senior-grade contractor in the Construction of New Delhi. He lived in his father's house on the Old Mill Road now known as Rafi Marg.
World War I While Sujan Singh toured Shahpur, Hadali and Mian Channu to recruit soldiers for World War I, Sobha Singh stayed in Delhi and tried his prospects in the textile industry and Ujjal Singh managed the properties in Punjab. Due to World War I Sir Sobha Singh, Sardar Sujan Singh and his family shifted near Sabzi Mandi in Delhi and worked in the textile industry, in a cotton mill. It was originally called Jumna Mill but then he changed the name to Khalsa Cotton Spinning and Weaving Mills. The mill was not successful and often had to shut down due to lack of money and they were on the verge of bankruptcy. In 1919, a fire swallowed the mill and turned it to ashes. They were very concerned that the English might lose the war and New Delhi would have never been built, but that did not happen. He then learned English to communicate with the Englishmen during this time.
Contracting career
Construction of Delhi He was a member of the Delhi Municipal Committee, the Improvement Trust, which was planning New Delhi, and the New Delhi Municipal Committee. He became the first Indian President of the New Delhi Municipal Council and held the post four times, in 1938, 1942, and 1945–46. This was a major achievement as the British did not trust Indians as much as they did themselves.
He was given many titles, such as Sardar Sahib, Honorary Magistrate, Sardar Bahadur, then Order of the British Empire, knighthood, nomination into the Central Legislative Assembly and nomination to the Council of States.
Kingsway Development
Sir Malcom Hailey allowed Sobha Singh to buy several extensive sites like the Rashtrapati Bhavan, India Gate, Vijay Chowk and other sites at as little as Rs 2 per square yard, freehold as a reward for their service in the First World War. He bought the land of Connaught Place in 1921 and was given the title of 'Sardar Sahib' in the 1922 birthday celebrations. He hired around 6,000 Bagadi laborers and dozens of supervisors, clerks and accountants with stone imported from Dholpur. The Bagadis were famous for building Mughal monuments like the Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Humayun's Tomb and others. The laborers had very low wages- 80 paisa for men and 60 paisa for women per day. During this time Sujan Singh left for Punjab to help his younger son, Ujjal Singh.
He had gone back to Mian Channu when his father fell ill. Sujan Singh had died at 65 of illness in their Haveli at Mian Channu. Sobha Singh originally lived in Old Mill Road, then shifted to Ajmeri Gate and then shifted to a double-storied house in Jantar Mantar Road, which became a road for wealthy Sikh contractors, currently Kerala House, and bought an Oldsmobile from an English engineer. Later he had built the National Museum as well which houses India's famous Dancing Girl. St. Columba's School was also constructed by him. The official horticulturist imported some exotic trees like the sausage tree and the African tulip tree from East Africa to line the streets of Delhi, to make sure that the city remained cool in summer. During the construction of Rashtrapati Bhavan, India Gate, the Secretariat Buildings, and more, there was one casualty; one laborer fell from a crane while constructing the India Gate, and the family was well compensated.
Connaught Place Development
Connaught Place was privately owned, as the government wanted to encourage private interests, and they did not want Delhi to be solely an official city. He bought extensive sites at 2 rupees per yard, the current cost would be 80,800 per yard. With a good gambling mindset, he was the first to start building in Connaught Place, he first constructed Sujan Singh Block A (now Wengers Block) and owned from there all the way to the other side known as American Express Block, the buildings between were also called Sujan Singh Blocks. He then built the Regal Building, one of Delhi's first cinemas, along with the Rivoli Cinemas in the same area. Maharaja Jiwajirao Scindia gave him a plot of land in Delhi to build a royal house as an embassy in the capital and a station for Gwalior Potteries, but it became too costly for him after it was completed, so it was not bought back from him, and Sobha Singh continued owning it, he rented it to shopkeepers.
On 23 December 1931, Lord Irwin and his wife came by train for the inaugural ceremony, Sobha Singh was one of the dignitaries to receive them at the platform. A bomb on the tracks was set off, and missed Sobha Singh, along with the Irwins as it blew up the compartment next to them. According to him, the Viceroy and Vicereine went through the ceremony, "unperturbed, as if nothing happened."
Cornwallis Road Development Sujan Singh Park was built in 1945 by the Anglo-Indian British architect Walter Sykes George and Sir Sobha Singh as the city's first apartment complex and was part of the Lutyen's plan, almost all colonies made by the Government of India followed the blueprint of Sujan Singh Park. The entire complex was raised to house British and American military and civilian officers during World War II to help in the war effort. In the early 1940s, Sobha Singh got the contract from the chief engineer of Delhi, Bahadur Suleman Khan, who himself migrated to Karachi after the Partition of India. It was known as Delhi's "drawing room".For officers that had families larger flats were given and ones without families went to what is now known as the Ambassador Hotel. All of Sir Sobha Singh's descendants live in the colony today. Many famed personalities including Teji Bachchan, Khushwant Singh, K.P. Bhanumathi, Meenakshi Chettur, Capt. Amarinder Singh, Pushpindar Singh Chopra, Danial Latifi, Badruddin Tyabji, Reeta Devi and many others have lived in the Sujan Singh Park complex.
Development of Other Sites He contracted the All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society Hall on Old Mill Road (Rafi Marg) on his own cost, Baroda House on Kasturba Gandhi Marg, Dyal Singh College in Delhi, the Government Medical College in Nagpur, designed by D.G. Karajgaonkar and the Bombay High Court, Nagpur Branch. Sobha Singh contracted the Central Research Institute in Kasauli too. Sir Sobha Singh was a founder-contractor of Chelmsford Club on Parliament Street. He also contracted the Broadcasting House (All India Radio) which remains one of the most iconic figures of radio television across Asia.
Bhakra-Nangal Dam Project Bhakra Nangal Dam was designed by an American, Harvey Slocum and was executed by Sir Sobha Singh. When lack of funding from investors and the government had forced Harvey Slocum to almost abandon the project, Sir Sobha Singh arrived and funded it with his own money and with the help of Kamani Engineering, he also helped in engineer parts of the project where it was unfeasible, along with many other engineers. The Bhakra Nangal Dam was built over thirteen years (1949-1963) and Sir Sobha Singh steered the project through rough storms. The tiles that he had bought, if landed in a straight line, would be seven times the length of the Equator, it is the largest multipurpose river valley project in India and was the only dam in Asia which could produce 1500 MW of power- a beacon to India's new economic progress despite the setbacks and newly achieved freedom.
Political and social career