Five-year plan

NHAI Chairman N Gokulram has every reason to thank his stars for joining the organisation with a fixed five-year term. Unlike his predecessors J S Maini and Pradeep Kumar who were shunted out summarily by Minister for Road Transport T R Baalu, Gokulram is definitely better placed—and that came to the fore very recently. The minister lost his cool when the NHAI dilly-dallied over some repair work in his home state of Tamil Nadu. A fuming Baalu asked for the immediate suspension of two very senior officials in the NHAI. Gokulram, it is learnt, thought that this was a little too harsh. The NHAI chairman managed to prevail over the minister with the support of Secretary Brahm Dutt and the suspension orders were revoked. The better job security within a restructured NHAI sure seems to be helping.