Engineering, metallurgy doyen passes away

Minu Nariman Dastur, who passed away Monday morning in Kolkata, was founder, chairman and managing director of M N Dastur & Co (Dasturco), consulting engineers.

He was 87. He is survived by his wife, daughter and two sons. Considered the doyen of consulting engineering and metallurgy in India, he completed his graduation in electrical and mechanical engineering from Banaras Hindu University in 1938.

Besides developing iron ore pelletising and gas-based direct reduction shaft furnaces, he acted as consultant for the first coal-based direct reduction plant in India.

He is best remembered for developing Indian skills and expertise and elevating them to international standards to roll back the use of imported technology.

Dasturco put Indian skills on the world consultancy and engineering services map. United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) projected the unit as a model for design and consultancy firms in developing countries.

Dasturco developed, in India, high quality alloy steels, ferro alloys smelting, continuous casting, thin-slab casting, and strip rolling besides pioneering computerised monitoring systems for project implementation.

It was a leading exporter of technical services thanks to its founder.

Dasturco was the first "retainer consultant" on steel to the government of India and Planning Commission on the long-term perspective plan for steel development.

It built India's first coast-based steel plant at Visakhapatnam as well as a host of other projects and steel development plans for several countries in Latin America, west Asia and Africa. It still provides consulting engineering services overseas

Dastur started his career with Tata Iron & Steel at Jamshedpur. He was awarded the J N Tata Endowment for Higher education of Indians Abroad Scholarship, and obtained his doctorate in metallurgy (Sc. D) from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1948, specialising in steelmaking under metallurgist Dr John Chipman.

Dastur worked in the US for seven years from 1948 with steel plant consulting firms but his intention of gaining 'works' experience in the US before returning to India remained unfulfilled on account of a chance meeting in 1954 with the country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Dastur, as a consulting steel plant expert, was on an USAID mission to Bhadravati Iron & Steel Works on behalf of the United States government.

Nehru asked him to return to India and apply his steel plant expertise for the steel development programme that India was soon to embark upon. Dr Dastur returned to India in 1955 to start up M. N. Dastur & Company (P) Limited (Dasturco).

Besides acting as consultant to UNIDO, Vienna, on metallurgy, Dr Dastur and Dr Dara P. Antia jointly worked to spread metallurgical education in India through the Indian Institute of Metals.

At the Bengal Engineering College, he set up the pioneering M N Dastur Advanced Materials Research Centre. Deeply concerned for the environment, he supported the Jamshedpur zoo.

His alma mater, the Banaras Hindu University, conferred on him the D.Sc Honoris Causa in 1980. The JRD Tata Gold Medal of the Indian Institute of Metals, membership of the American Iron & Steel Institute, Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Society for Metals (ASM) and certificate of honour of the European Market Research Centre, Brussels, were some of the other honours he received.

Dastur also played cricket at the Ranji Trophy level for Bihar and was fond of hockey, tennis and bridge.