Sobha Singh (builder)

(March 5, 1888 – 18 April 1978) was an Indian civil contractor, prominent builder and real estate developer of the modern day Delhi.

[1] 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.

[1] He played the largest part in 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 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.

Sir Sobha Singh was born in 1888, in the village of Hadali in Khushab, Shahpur District – then part of British India (now Pakistan).

[5] He was pulled out of school before giving his final exams, as his father believed that to make money one only needed was addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and how to calculate simple and compound interest, although he wanted to learn English, he could not till much later.

[6] Sobha Singh and his father were guests for 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.

He just kept constructing and building and making money.”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.

[15] 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.

[23] 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.

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.

[30] Bhakra Nangal Dam was designed by an American, Harvey Slocum and was executed by Sir Sobha Singh.

[31] The Bhakra Nangal Dam was built over thirteen years (1949-1963) and Sir Sobha Singh steered the project through rough storms.

[32] William Birdwood had clearly stated that the Sikh prisoners kept in Rasina Hill after the Jaito Morcha and Akali Movement should have been kept in custody.

[32] On 16 September 1921, Sir Sobha Singh defied the orders of the British, stating that they were innocent and non-violent, and the Sikhs who were charged with more severe terms (manslaughter, looting, theft) were still kept in Rasina Hill despite the Akali protest.

[34] Sardar Sant Singh represented the delegation by giving a strong-worded speech in parliament against Mr. Killburn who was responsible; he was fired from his job and sent back to England.

[41][42] Sir Sobha Singh said in parliament that the Bengal famine of 1943 had exposed the constitutional defects inherent in the Government of India Act 1935.

[44] While Lord Wavell had sent the army divisions and air force for relief work along the countryside, Sir Sobha Singh was tasked with improving railways and roads, which is why he was put on the Central Advisory Council for Railways, the Food Department for producing Bajra, Jowar, Millet, Rice and Wheat instead of Jute plantations in the East Bengal region, the Committee for Agriculture and Forests so that he could help in the food scarcity situation and provide wood which was lacking in areas like Odisha's coastal area.

[49] Govind Ballabh Pant had created a team of people for Evacuee Property transactions after the Partition of India, Dr. Zakir Husain, Sir Sobha Singh and Raghunandan Saran were all in the team to restore Muslim properties in Delhi and give them to the migrant populations, mainly from Sindh and from West Punjab.

[50] They were able to restore most of the properties but the population influx had changed the overall demographics, to such an extent that there were not enough houses for the Sikhs and Hindus who arrived.

[50] This led to new colonies springing in Delhi, which Sir Sobha Singh objected to, as they were badly planned, cramped, one-laned and many were lying on flood plains.

[50] Chakravarti Rajagopalachari noted that Sir Sobha Singh was an enthusiast of the Swatantra Party in his letters to Mahatma Gandhi.

[51] He was given the position of chairman of the Delhi unit of the Swatantra Party in 1960, taking over from Sardar Bahadur Lal Singh in 1960.

[52] The Pasricha refused to comply with some orders, when the Delhi Swatantra Party Committee had decided that Manmohini Zutshi Sahgal should contest the New Delhi By-Election in 1961 as a Swatantra-supported independent candidate, it had gained major support till the manager and his aides did not comply with any orders and disrupted party meetings and rallies.

[54] He worked from a bungalow called Aashiana near the Upper Lake, where his son Khushwant Singh wrote the famous story, Train to Pakistan.

[64] He was a believer in the concept of Dasvandh (donating a tenth of ones earnings to charity), and gave lots of money to the poor, he became a known philanthropist in his last years.

"[69] He was very hospitable, Sapru, Jayakar, Kunzru, Ayyangar, Devadoss, Nehru and Rajagopalachari all became very close to him and stayed at his grand house 'Vyukunth' in Delhi, "I often saw Mahatma Gandhi strolling in my father’s garden talking to Mr Jinnah" said Khushwant Singh.

[70] Sir Sobha Singh also spent lots of time in his Mashobra's 'Sunderban' house, which had apple and cherry trees, a cider press, a snow pit to chill beer, a billiard room, a dance hall with a grand piano and a tennis court, it originally housed the Consul for Mexico.

[79] Post-independence none of the contractors, architects or engineers of New Delhi were honored and no roundabouts, roads or monuments were named after any of them, Khushwant Singh stated, "it appeared like anti-Sikh communal prejudice.

[81] Sir Sobha Singh's dream project was to have an accommodation near the Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital for families of patients, who usually came from far away places and just hung around the staircase without proper facilities, though he asked the government multiple times to construct the site, they did not accept.