Sobha Singh (builder)

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Sir Sobha Singh (1890-1978) was a civil contractor and a prominent builder and real estate owner of Delhi.

[edit] Early life

He was the elder of the two sons of Sujan Singh, the younger one being Wjal Singh who was a a Member of Parliament in India from the state of Punjab. Sobha Singh was born in the village of Hadali in Khushab, district Sargodha, now in Pakistan. After a few years at school in Amritsar, he joined his father's business of civil construction dealing in the laying of railway tracks and the digging of tunnels.

[edit] Career

When Lord Hardinge announced the plan to move the British capital to Delhi was along with the Coronation Durbar for King George and the Queen would take place in Delhi in December 1911 ,Sujan and Sobha shifted to Delhi as building contractors. Building contracts then being given out. Sujan Singh-Sobha Singh were accepted as senior-grade contractors. Plans for the new city were drawn immediately after the Coronation Durbar.

The Foundation stones had been laid by the King and Queen. After this the architects, Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker wanted to change the site from where the foundation stones had been laid to Raisina hill and the village of Malcha. Sobha Singh had the foundation stones removed during the night and then take them 11 km across the city and replant them on the new site. The construction of the plans were taken up after World War I (1916-18).

For the South Block and War Memorial Arch ( now India Gate), Sobha Singh was the sole builder. He also worked on some parts of the Viceregal House (now Rashtrapati Bhavan) and Vijaya Chowk.

Sobha Singh bought as much land in Delhi as he could. He bought several extensive sites at as little as Rs 2 per square yard, freehold. There were few other takers, and he came to be described as adhi dilli da malik (the owner of half of Delhi) .He constructed many residential and commercial buildings ( including some in Connaught Place) as well as the Chelmsford, A.I.F. A.C.'s Hall, Broadcasting House (All India Radio), the National Museum, Dyal Singh College, T.B.Hospital, Modern School, Deaf and Dumb School, Red Cross Buildings and Baroda House. Outside Delhi, he built the High Court and Government Medical College at Nagpur and the Pasteur Institute at Kasauli.

Sobha Singh was a person of modest education but his success as a builder made him one of the wealthiest persons of Delhi; also, a prominent member of the social elite. He also became the first lndian president of the New Delhi Municipal Committee. He was knighted by the government and appointed a member of the Council of States. Sobha Singh left a large part of his private estate to a charitable trust and presided over some of the institutions funded by it like the Deaf and Dumb School and the Modern School. Among his last grants was one for Bhagat Puran Singh's Pingalwara home for the destitute in Amritsar.

Sir Sobha Singh had four sons and a daughter by his wife, Lady Varyam Kaur including Khushwant Singh the journalist, writer and author.

Sir Sobha Singh died in Delhi on 18 April 1978.

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