Team Sreedharan

This happened at Dasgaon in the early ’90s, when Sreedharan, then about 61, had just begun redefining the contours of infrastructure building in India.

Almost nine years later, as the Managing Director of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, he has again applied the ‘Sreedharan Style of Management’ to acquire land he desperately needed. No flouting land acquisition statutes here — but he has gone out of the way to make alternative arrangements for those being evicted. He has sent over packers. He has given those being evicted advances to meet immediate expenses. He has got in touch with local authorities to find out if people shifted to new places have got water and electricity connections.

This speed of construction, this belief in deadlines will all be reflected when Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and other dignitaries board the Metro on its inaugural run between Shahdara and Tees Hazari on Tuesday. This 8.3 km stretch is only the beginning of a 62.5-km project that will help solve the transport crisis in parts of north-east, central, west and south-west Delhi. It is one of the three segments of Line 1, which will ultimately run from Shahdara to Barwala. There are two other lines to be laid under Phase I: Line 2 will run between Vishwa Vidyalaya and Central Secretariat, while Line 3 will link Connaught Place with Dwarka. The common deadline for all three lines is September, 2005. This inaugural run means that the project is on schedule.

And this Tuesday the Prime Minister will have to laud the efforts of Sreedharan and his team, just as he had done five years ago while inaugurating the Konkan Railway.

Sreedharan is not about land acquisition alone. He is about engineering skills, financial wizardry, adapting to the local environment, astute dealings with politicians who have their own agenda, circumventing red tape, running a streamlined administration and, above all, delegating responsibilities. He leads by example.

The Delhi Metro is all about Team Sreedharan.

Konkan Railways would not have happened without 100 young men on motorcycles. They helped map the territory for Sreedharan. They were important cogs in Sreedharan’s machine. They were given enough petrol and a daily allowance. They travelled the length and breadth of the undulating terrain in the Western Ghats. They were not even full-fledged engineers. They had done diploma courses in engineering.

Sreedharan is choosy about the people who work with him. Once he took over in 1997, he recruited people carefully. He has several considerations in mind. Familiarity with the project environment is one of them. Having worked in Delhi in different phases for a number of years, Satish Kumar was handpicked for the job of Director (Rolling Stocks, Electrification, Telecommunications and Signalling).

An electrical engineer from the Indian Railway Service, Kumar had worked for the Ring Railway Electrification project before the Asiad in 1981-82. In 1998, he was taking up an assignment as additional secretary with the Railway Board when this job opportunity came by.

Now touching 60, Kumar says he has loved the challenge. ‘‘I am handling new technology. At par with Singapore and Hongkong.’’ And why does he think that this project is one with a difference? ‘‘Flexibility,’’ says Kumar. He was unhappy with the 25 KV electric traction. He wanted the French experts to help modify it. ‘‘The decision was taken in 72 hours flat just between the MD and me.’’ The guidelines laid down by the MD are simple. ‘‘Go for efficient, economic and reliable technology.’’

Bettiah’s one gift to Delhi is C B K Rao. In the ’60s, after topping the school examination in his district, he had to opt for the Regional Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur, because his family could not afford the marginally higher-priced IIT education. His only regret before the inaugural run is that the Delhi Metro still does not have the kind of ‘‘construction environment’’ he has seen in Tokyo. He has seen construction activities from close quarters in Boston, Singapore and Hongkong. And, he believes, Delhi is ahead of them.

Rao is the man who has brought in the concept of ‘‘aesthetics’’ in construction. As Director (Civil), he has understood the need to sanitise the surroundings while tunnelling in and around Connaught Place and Rajpath. In the 21st century, even trees cannot be pruned without civic consent. ‘‘We went to Old Delhi at dead of night only to prune trees. We could not hurt people’s sensibilities.’’ Unlike Kolkata, where thoroughfares had to be ripped open and construction work was carried out in full public view, Delhi Metro construction has hardly caused major diversions or disrupted normal life.

Files do not gather dust anywhere in the DMRC office on the first, third and fifth floors of the NBCC Place on Lodhi Road adjoining the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium. From a small 400 square feet office in the same building in 1998, Sreedharan’s team now occupies 28,000 square feet. The staff strength is only 400. There are only three peons. The rest go and get their coffee themselves. Now that the Metro is going to begin operations, the DMRC has only recently hired 300 more people.

‘‘I was with Rail India Technical and Economic Services before joining Mr Sreedharan at the Konkan project site,’’ says bespectacled Rajan Kataria, Chief Engineer (Design). He loves designing bridges. The Yamuna bridge for the Metro has been built with the ‘‘incremental launching technique’’. There is no support from beneath. The bridge grips the embankment and travels across the water body. ‘‘Of course, I learnt a lot from my first job with Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES). But here I can see my designs being executed. Innovation made on paper is becoming a reality.’’

The disabled-friendly ramps would not have come up at the Metro stations without the contribution of Tripta Khurana, Chief Architect. She was aware of the relevant laws and wanted the architectural drawings to suit those provisions. Sreedharan gave his planners a free hand, telling them to remember that the Metro had to appeal to urban sensibilities. Tripta, who is on deputation from the Central Public Works Department, is grateful to her domestic help. At DMRC, you cannot afford to reach office a minute later than 9 am. The help takes care of her home.

It is the fact that you talk across the table and sort out things that Ananya Dasgupta, Deputy Financial Advisor, really enjoys about DMRC. In her previous job with the Eastern Railway, she had become accustomed to the bureaucracy. When she joined in 1999, it was really hectic. The international competitive tenders were being floated. All financial decisions were being taken in a matter of days. She was amazed by the speed. Probably the smallness of the core team helps.

P Muniyam’s job is also an integral part of the DMRC. He is one of the only three assistants who have to move around with the files. These files are important because the boss himself will go through them. Sreedharan keep tabs on all that goes on in his office. A hint of corruption and there is an immediate inquiry, followed by sacking, if need be. Quite a few people have lost their jobs because Sreedharan does not tolerate financial malpractices. But Sreedharan’s strong point is he also delegates responsibility. Muniyam has been here from the beginning and he, too, understands a bit about the Metro. And this weekend, when reports were pouring in from the new stations about the finishing touches being given, Muniyam was as excited as the others.

He was keenly aware that the 300 new recruits who will man the stations, help the passengers or drive the trains were being made to go through Sreedharan’s yoga and meditation regime. He was also aware that the DMRC had chosen an inspiring anthem. It was a song from Ankush, the film that made Nana Patekar famous: Itne shakti humme dena data, man ka vishwas kamzor ho na/ Hum chale nek raste par, hum se bhool kar bhi koi bhool ho na…