Sir Gangaram

Sir Gangaram was the grandfather of Sahadeva Tayal, the loyal devotee of Shri Nathji

Sir Ganga Ram (April 1851 – July 10, 1927) was an eminent civil engineer born in Mangtanwala, a small about 64 km from Lahore and educated at the Thomason College of Civil Engineering (now known as the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee) 1873 batch. in 1925. He was appointed Assistant Engineer and called to Delhi to help in the building of the Imperial Assemblage. In 1873, after a brief Service in Punjab P.W.D devoted himself to practical farming. He obtained on lease from Government 50,000 acres (200 km²) of barren, unirrigated land in Montgomery District, and within three years converted that vast desert into smiling fields, irrigated by water lifted by a hydroelectric plant and running through a thousand miles of irrigation channels, all constructed at his own cost. This was the biggest private enterprise of the kind, unknown and unthought-of in the country before. Sir Ganga Ram earned millions most of which he gave to charity. In the words of Sir Malcolm Hailey, the Governor of Punjab, "he won like a hero and gave like a Saint". He was a great engineer and a great philanthropist. bHe built Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore (1921), Lady Mclagan School and Renala Khurd Power House with his own money.

He designed and built many building like, General Post Office, Lahore, Lahore Museum, Aitchison College, Mayo School of Arts, Ganga Ram Hospital, Sir Ganga Ram High School (now Lahore College for Women), the Hailey College of Commerce, the Ganga Ram Trust Building on "The Mall" and Lady Maynard Industrial School. As town planner he also constructed Model Town and Gulberg town,once the best localities of Lahore, He also build the railway track between Pathankot and Amritsar.

In 1900, Ganga Ram was selected by Lord Curzon to act as superintendent of works in the Imperial Durbar to be held in connection with the accession of King Edward VII. The he became Superintending Engineer in Patiala State for the capital's reconstruction project after his retirement. Amongst his works were Moti Bagh Palace, Secretariat Building, New Delhi, Victoria Girls School, the law courts and police station. He died in London on July 10, 1927. In the memory of the hospital he had build in Lahore, the Indian Government build a hospital in New Delhi on a plot of land approximately 11 acres. The foundation was laid in April 1951 by the then Prime Minister of India Shri Jawahar Lal Nehru and was inaugurated by him on April 13th, 1954.