Case Study: The Metro Man of India,E. Sreedharan
Elattuvalapil Sreedharan is a
retired Indian Engineering Service (IES)
officer popularly known as the "Metro Man". He served as the Managing
Director of Delhi Metro between 1995-2012 and was chosen for prestigious Lokmanya
Tilak Award 2013.
Sreedharan’s star quality began to show early in
his career. He trained as a civil engineer in Kakinda, Andhra Pradesh. At
Indian Railways he made his mark by restoring a storm-ravaged bridge in 46 days
when it might have taken six months. He went on to help design India’s first
metro in Kolkata in 1970 and then served as head of Cochin Shipyard in Kerala.
He officially retired in 1990 but was lured back
to work to build the Konkan Railway, which runs through mountainous terrain to
connect strategic ports in Mumbai and Mangalore. By 1997 Delhi Metro’s fathers
were calling and full-time contemplation would have to wait.
He is the managing
director of Delhi Metro, the capital’s gleaming subway system. The quest for excellence came naturally to Elattuvalapil
Sreedharan. In school, he would vie with T.N. Seshan, the former
Chief Election Commissioner, to come
first in class. The 73-year-old managing director of Delhi Metro Rail
Corporation had set a scorching pace for his co-workers to follow. That
competitive streak in him has motivated the 1,650-strong workforce to avoid
delay or cost-overrun and to transform the Delhi Metro into a technological
marvel. His no-nonsense, bureaucracy-busting efficiency helped him to accomplish
what had seemed impossible in India: finish building the initial $2.3 billion
subway system in 2005 under budget and almost three years ahead of schedule. If
anyone can pull off this daunting $4.25 billion project it is a man whose
humble serenity is not incidental; he wakes well before dawn every day to
meditate and read the Bhagavad Gita, does yoga each morning and walks for at
least 45 minutes in the evening.
A plaque in his office quotes from the Indian scripture Yog Vashisht: “Work
I do; not that ‘I’ do it.”
In one of his visits to his alma mater, BEM Mission higher secondary school, Palakkad,in
2009, Sreedharan suggested that school
curriculum should include imbibing moral values, developing integrity and
learning the importance of our culture. He also mentioned that he owed a lot to
his teachers in the school who helped him develop values and confidence which
made the Government entrust him with the Konkan railway project and the Rs
20,000-crore Delhi Metro Rail project. Despite achieving such great feats in
his career E Sreedharan is a humble man who never forgot his roots and used his
skill and knowledge to overcome obstacles and made contributions for the
betterment of his nation and its people.
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