Rules. In 1893, provincial services were created in each of the provinces of India. The technical branch staffs were divided into three categories: (i) Engineers (ii) Upper Subordinates (iii) Lower Subordinates. And the engineers were divided into separate services, viz., Imperial Services and Provincial Services. While the Engineers were recruited in England and reserved for the British people only in case of the former services, in case of the latter, appointments were available to the recognized community of the Indians only. With the complete separation of the Military branch in 1895, the P.W.D. became an exclusive civil department. The P.W.D. became responsible for public works relating to roads, buildings, irrigations and railways from this time. Beside, with the integration and development of local government system, Special types of public works were entrusted upon District Boards and Municipalities. In 1905, the railways branch was segregated from the P.W.D. and was converted into a separate department under the management and control of Railway Board. The first railway line in India was commissioned in 1853 from Bombay to Thane and train services were introduced. Till 1905 about 3600 miles of railway track was constructed by the P.W.D. Increased initiative by the British Government for more development increased the work load of P.W.D. considerably. In 1920, P.W.D. was divided into two separate departments, viz., Public Works and Irrigation. Surface Roads of pre-independence period were maintained by Works and Building Directorate, which subsequently nomenclatured as P.W. Directorate under the administrative set up of P.W. Department. History of Public Works ( Post Independence) The necessity of developing the road system in West Bengal was keenly felt and gradually large number of district board roads were taken over by the State PWD for improvement and maintenance. Road construction under plan program was taken up in the year 1952 and for this purpose Road Development Directorate was created under the administrative set up of Development & Planning Department. In the early Five year Plan Periods the road constructed under plan program by the Roads Development Directorate was handed over to the P.W. Directorate for maintenance work. Subsequently with increased volume of road construction, Roads Development Directorate was separated from administrative set up of Development & Planning Department and renamed as P. W. (Roads) Directorate under administrative set up of P. W. (Roads) Department. Till today large number of State Highways and District Roads are being maintained by P.W.