Created in 1963 in the erstwhile P & T Department, mainly for Planning and Construction of departmental buildings, the Civil Wing has grown both in size and professionalization of the organization. Initially, in 1963 Civil Wing consisted of 1 Chief Engineer (C), 4 Superintending Engineers (C) (Field & Planning) and 21 Executive Engineers (C) (Field & Planning). Due to the expansion in the building activities of the P & T Department, Zonal Chief Engineers were created in 1982. Chief Engineer (C), South Zone, with its Headquarters at Chennai, started functioning in April 1982. The Southern Telecom. Zone has to its credit a large no. of Telephone Exchanges, Post Offices, Administrative Buildings, Staff Quarters, laying of cable ducts, execution of civil works for communication towers, etc. .
Presently, Tamilnadu Civil Zone looks after the civil and allied infrastructure requirements of the Tamilnadu Telecom. Circle and the Chennai Telephones. An ISO certified unit of the Civil Wing, the Tamilnadu Civil Zone, apart from carrying out routine infrastructure works, is entrusted with the construction of a Modern, Hi-Tech building at Chennai for about Rs.200 crore. Recently, the Tamilnadu Civil Zone has completed commissioning of infrastructure for 326 mobile communication towers in rural areas of Tamilnadu under USOF Programme of Govt. of India. .
The main functions of the Civil Wing are: a. Project Planning b. Construction Management
Project Planning consists of: i. Preparation of Project estimate ii. Detailing of Project components iii. Preparation of Contract Documents iv. Evaluation of Tenders v. Structural Analysis and Designing of Buildings as per BIS Codes vi. Preparation of Computerized Structural Drawings and Construction Management includes: i. Execution of works through contracts ii. Supervision and testing for ensuring standards iii. Financial and Contract Management iv. Accreditations for quality of construction