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Ranjit Kumar was an engineering visionary. He was responsible for the construction of the first dual carriageway at Wrightson Road, Port of Spain. His land reclamation project, done at a time when many called it impossible, has endured for over 60 years.

Kumar celebrated two birthdays. According to his mother, he was born in India in the Rawalpindi area of Punjab on August 6th 1911 but according to his birth certificate, he was born on 31st January 1912. His father, Lala Sri Gopaul, was manager of the Rawalpindi branch of the biggest British owned bank in India. The only child to his parents, he was only 10 months old when his father died. The tragedy forced his mother to move to Lahore to live near her family. In 1919, at the tender age of 8, Ranjit, his uncle and his mother moved to England. He attended Helborn Grammar School, where he perfected his English and sang in the St. Clement’s Danes Church choir.

In England, Kumar excelled academically. At age 13, he passed London Matriculation (now GCE O’Levels); at age 15 he passed Higher Schools (now A 'Levels) and was admitted to the Imperial College of Science in South Kensington. Although his uncles wanted him to study law, his teachers urged him to pursue a career in engineering because of his excellent mathematical ability and he took their advice. At age 18, he obtained a BSc degree in Civil Engineering but because of his youth, his lack of experience and the racism of the time, he was unable to find employment which befitted his qualifications. Kumar finally obtained a temporary post in the borough engineer’s office but after three months, it was advertised as a permanent post and denied to him when he reapplied. Kumar did not want to leave England but he could not find employment there, he returned to India

Kumar sat the Indian Imperial Police Entrance Examination, placing second out of 250 applicants. He opted to be posted in Punjab in 1931 and was soon promoted to the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police, training in law and horse riding. Before he was 22 years old, he was already in charge of police security at the Indian Legislative Council and in control of 200 policemen. At another point in his career, he was in charge of 100 horsemen responsible for patrolling the bank of the River Indus to prevent Afghan raiders from robbing Indian villages. He left the police service in 1933.

In 1935, Kumar met a man from Trinidad. While in India, this man saw an Indian film for the first time and realised that Trinidad was a potential market for these movies. The man convinced Kumar to leave India, which was in political unrest, and travel to Trinidad with an Indian film. After spending three months in Bombay’s film studios, he bought the film Bala Joban and began his journey. He arrived in Trinidad as the distributor of the first Indian film to be shown locally at Globe Cinema. The venture was successful and Kumar spent the next year, travelling all over Trinidad and Guyana, showing Indian films in all the cinemas. After two years of this success, Kumar sold his films and left the business.

In 1937, Kumar he got a job at Pointe-a-Pierre as an engineer but he was later appointed by the government as an Assistant Engineer with the Public Works department. While there, Kumar developed the Morvant Housing Estate and was commissioned to plan, design and construct Wrightson Road, Trinidad’s first dual carriageway road, on newly reclaimed land in Port-of-Spain. At that time, the area between Wrightson Road and the sea was swampy and few people believed that a road could be constructed under these conditions. However, with the help of a preliminary design by an English town planner, the area was successfully reclaimed by 1938. Although the start of World War II brought the construction to a brief halt, work resumed after it was over and the Wrightson Road project was completed in 1940.

Kumar obtained a job as Assistant City Engineer, Port of Spain in 1945. He engineered irrigation and drainage systems of Port-of-Spain to alleviate the problem of flooding. He also designed and constructed several buildings such as the illustrious Hilton Hotel and FedChem Company Limited. He was instrumental in the popularisation of Engineering Technology, contributing freelance articles to the Challenger Newspaper for 10 years in order to educate the ’layman’. He discussed issues that affected the general public such as irrigation, flooding, drainage and proposed solutions using civil engineering technologies to amend the problems facing the society.

When Kumar began his education, his goal had been to be a public officer, to be financially independent and to give people honest public service. However, he soon decided that that this was not enough. Although he first left India to avoid political unrest, he felt compelled to pursue the very thing he had once fled- politics. Kumar was elected member of the Port of Spain City Council to serve the 1943 to 1945 term and re-elected for the 1947 to 1950 term. He was Alderman of the City Council from 1950 to 1956. He was a Member of the Constitutional Reform Committee appointed in February 1947 and a Member of the Legislative Council between 1946 and 1956. He was an Independent candidate first, then a Butlerite under the famous trade unionist Tubal Uriah “Buzz” Butler. He represented constituencies as far apart as Princess Town and his hometown, St. James. He remained active in politics until his death.

A dedicated father of nine, Kumar insisted on providing his children with a strong educational background. Despite his busy schedule as an engineer and a politician, he found the time to take all his children to and from school, check their books and help them with their homework every evening. He had a great love for mathematics and had an interest in astronomy and history. He would spend many nights gazing at the constellations and related the stories of Orion and Cyrus to his children. He was also fond of reading. He was always on the side of reason, kept abreast of global issues and had strong views.

Ranjit Kumar was a cultured and sincere immigrant who became so involved with the betterment of the people of Trinidad & Tobago that he became one of them. He was a learned but practical person whose was capable of expounding his learning to others, applying his knowledge to the development of a solution and demonstrating the feasibility of his suggestion. Kumar’s vision was years ahead of his time and he passed away having left his mark on civil engineering in Trinidad and Tobago.

Ranjit Kumar
- Civil Engineer

Selected Publications:

Career Highlights

Ranjit Kumar - Civil Engineer

Selected Publications:

Career Highlights

Ranjit Kumar
- Civil Engineer