The ‘Metro Man’ E. Sreedharan and noted Indian economist, C. Rangarajan were presented with the Sivananda Eminent Citizen Awards 2016 given away by the Sanathana Dharma Chaitable Trust.
At the awards function organised on Wednesday in the city, Mr. Sreedharan shared some interesting moments and achievements from his career while helming the prestigious Konkan Railway Project and the Delhi Metro Rail Project.
He said that the two projects are the pride of the country and it was possible because of the unique work culture in the corporations which executed the works. The Delhi metro project had a punctuality rate of 99.97 per cent, he said.
“We decided to respect the value of time of the people. Worldwide, if the train is arrives more three minutes after the scheduled time, it is considered as late. But, for Delhi metro trains, it is only 60 seconds. Punctuality was the key to success,” said Mr. Sreedharan.
He also recounted how he was able to complete the second phase of the Delhi Metro Project much before the deadline and without any allegations of misappropriation.
The chief guest of the evening, Telangana and A.P. Governor ESL Narasimhan praised the two awardees for sticking to the Indian values to excel and serve the nation.
“There is a need for us to revisit our value system which is enshrined in our vedas and upanishads. But we are going in another direction and looking at the western world. Everything is available in the Indian culture,” said Mr. Narasimhan.
He felt that people of the country should not entirely depend on the Government and instead have societal responsibility and work towards the development of the country.
P. Rama Rao, Chairman, Council of Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru also graced the occasion.
