Keeping Dubey146;s dream alive

Dubey lives where he belongs, amid the stone chips and concrete mix being laid out by engineers along NH-7 in Tamil Nadu to fulfil the dream the ex-IITian gave up his life for.

Over 300 km from Kanyakumari, we feel his presence for the first time near Karur where the imposing steel hoarding across six lanes of a world-class highway is covered with white cloth. It8217;s evening on this stretch of the North-South corridor and traffic is thin.

We hear about Dubey the next day at a town called Thumbipadi where NHAI executive engineer Selvaraj shows us around the demolition work that is going on for the service road that needs to be laid. 8216;8216;Yes, of course, I8217;ve heard of him. It8217;s very sad what happened. But I must say things in the South are much better than in Bihar.8217;8217; Would you do the same as Dubey? 8220; If I detect corruption I will report it to my higher authorities.8217;8217; His boss, NHAI project director M. Krishnan, is concerned 8212; 8216;8216;It is very unfortunate, I can identify with him8217;8217;8212; but feels the best way to keep Dubey8217;s spirit alive is to continue the work in right earnest. A neat pile of drawings of ongoing projects and a cupboard full of reports of completed projects form the office of this 1968 graduate from Calicut Regional Engineering College. 8216;8216;I try to ensure that honesty, transparency and fairness is maintained.8217;8217;

Krishnan points to the NHAI manual: 8216;8216;Standards prescribed in our 8216;bible8217; are ensured by regular tests at our project lab. Supervision consultants who check each item that is used.8217;8217; The idea is that since rules are clearly laid out, all we need to do is follow them.

In Salem, Thangabalu is getting the jitters, facing ADMK Vanniyar fresher Rajasekharan. The other DPA contenders are ex-minister and former TADA detainee Sukulakshmi Jagadesan Tiruchengonde, Congressman Rani Rasipuaram-SC, PMK8217;s Dr Senthil who is fighting turncoat P.T. Elangovan Dharmapuri and DMK8217;s E.G. Sugabanam who defeated Jayalalithaa in the 1996 Assembly polls in Bargur Krishnagiri.

We cross Krishnagiri to hit Thoppurghat section, the showpiece of the TN end of the corridor. The expanse of the hills envelopes us as we cruise down the 4-lan e highway.

If this is what the highways are going to look and feel like, let8217;s bring them on fast. If this is what Dubey and his fellow engineers have been working on, the nation owes it to them. Back at Salem, Krishnan and his team are working hard, at times even on Sundays, to ensure work stays on track: the North-South corridor will be connected by 2007. 8216;8216;I am extremely proud and satisfied to be a tiny part of this mammoth project8217;8217;.

And that is the last word.