STARDUST EVENING

The 10th Construction Week India Awards had all the elements of glamour as on ground, and some surprises in store

- JAYASHREE KINI MENDES

There have been plenty of strange and novel experiences in 2020. For long, people have been talking about virtual reality and augmented reality. Giving the term a twist, little did we know that the year 2020 would introduce us to “virtual reality” for such a long stretch of time. While interactions and business dealings among people have been conducted online since March, even the Centre is not holding itself back. The PM and his Ministers have been inaugurating and laying foundation stones for several large projects – all virtually.

So what was to stop us from holding our annual Awards? Of course, till September we were determined not to hold it this year. But then seeing the spate of events and taking a cue from the government’s efforts to continue economic growth, we gathered around (virtually, of course) and putting our minds together for the 10th Construction Week India Awards 2020. So December 22 was chosen as the day.

Our solid database helped us reach out to the industry at large. Inviting nominations was the first thing. We do admit that we gave nominees far less time than we usually do, but then time was of the essence. We also relaxed the rules for sending in nominations as the situation has not been very encouraging for companies to complete projects on time.

Our Jury comprised Anuj Puri, chairman, Anarock; Sanjay Patil, MRICS, Associate Dean & Director – School of Construction; and Shyam Raghunandan, MD, Schueco India.

This year, we used an online platform, Maximum Virtual, to showcase the awards. Our efforts paid off. We understand that more than 1000 persons registered to view the awards. That is phenomenal.