The 'Metro Man' who transformed the lives of millions, Elattuvalapil Sreedharan14/01/2013
A man who by the virtue of his hard work and dedication brought comfort to the lives of masses, E. Sreedharan is an icon of our times. His work and vision has redefined public transport, be it the Delhi Metro or other projects with Railways across India. He is known for his clear thinking and adherence to deadlines.
In 2000, following a long and ugly public spat with the Ministry of Railway, E Sreedharan wanted to quit Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). Sreedharan, who had been selected on the basis of his competence, found that the government did not trust his judgement. He saw no reason to continue with DMRC. He then turned to the Bhagwad Gita. For more than 15 years, he has been reading a couple of stanzas every day and ruminating on their meaning. On that day in 2000, he reflected on the central theme of the Gita, where Krishna tells Arjun that, no matter what, Arjun has to fulfill his duty. Sreedharan decided not to quit, but, instead, to stay on and fight his battles. Elattuvalapil Sreedharan was born on 12 July 1932 in the Palakkad district of Kerala. He completed his education at the Basel Evangelical Mission Higher Secondary School and then went to the Victoria College in Palghat. He later on completed his Civil Engineering from the Government Engineering College, Kakinada (known as JNTU). He, along with his wife Radha, have four children. For a short tenure, he worked as a lecturer in Civil engineering at the Government Polytechnic, Kozhikode and a year at the Bombay Port Trust as an apprentice. Later he joined the Indian Railways in its Service of Engineers. His first assignment was in the Southern Railway as a Probationary Assistant Engineer in December 1954. In the earlier part of his career, Sreedharan faced 20 job transfers due to his dedication to deadlines, perhaps because his work ethics were difficult for others to match up to. Nevertheless, he remained undeterred in his method and approach. In 1964, he took up the daunting task to restore a bridge within a tight deadline of six months. By the time he assumed the task, the time was reduced to half, yet, Sreedharan was able to accomplish the unimagined, by completing the restoration work in 46 days and making the bridge operational. The Railway minister's Award was given to him in recognition of this achievement. In 1970, as the deputy chief engineer, he was put in charge for implementation, planning and design of Calcutta metro, the first ever metro in India. He retired from Indian Railways as Member Engineering in 1990. Though he retired, the Government needed his services and he was appointed the CMD of Konkan Railway on contract. It was the first major project in India to be undertaken on a BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) basis; the project had 93 tunnels along a length of 82 km. The total project covered 760 km and had over 150 bridges. He was made the managing director of Delhi Metro and by mid-1995, all the scheduled sections were completed by their target date or before, and within their respective budgets. Sreedharan was given the sobriquet of Metro Man by the media. He had announced that he would retire by the end of 2005, but his tenure has been extended to oversee the completion of the second phase of Delhi Metro. In July 2009, Sreedharan resigned as the managing director DMRC, taking moral responsibility for the collapse of an under-construction bridge that killed five people. However, due to popular demand, Delhi's Chief Minister rejected Sreedharan's resignation. After 16 years of service with the Delhi Metro, Sreedharan retired from service on 31 December 2011. He moved to Ponnani, but his retired life did not work out the way he had planned. Kerala’s Chief Minister Oommen Chandy wanted Sreedharan’s help in implementing the Kochi metro project. He believes in creating a system where there is little incentive for fraud. For instance, at Konkan Railway he did away with paying contractors based on measurement books. Instead, he brought in AV Paulose, to device a system where payments can be made faster, based on bills contractors submit. By this method, 85 percent of payments were made within 24 hours and the rest within a week after the bills were scrutinised. It is based on trust, and penalty for breaching it is high. The instinct to do the right thing has often landed him in trouble. Once, there was a vigilance case against a younger colleague. Sreedharan took the case upon himself, because he said his colleague was following his orders. There were enquires against him, including one initiated by Parliament, and each time he came out unscathed. Awards and Honours
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