New Delhi, July 12 (Inditop.com) E. Sreedharan, known world wide as India’s ‘Metro man’, resigned as the chief of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Sunday, taking “moral responsibility” for the collapse of an underconstruction span that killed five people in the capital.
Sreedharan, who has been the managing director of the DMRC since its inception, announced his resignation at a press conference here and expressed “lot of pain and remorse” over the pre-dawn accident in south Delhi. Incidentally, Sunday was Sreedharan’s birthday and he turned 77.
The DMRC chief announced a four-member committee to probe into what caused the accident, claiming five lives, and said the committee has been tasked with giving its report within 10 days.
“I have been in charge of the Metro since beginning. I take full responsibility for the accident, and having taken the full moral responsibility I resign as the managing director of the Delhi Metro,” Sreedharan told reporters.
“I may not be directly connected with the accident. But I am the head of the organisation and have to take the moral responsibility,” Sreedharan said.
The 77-year-old, who has come to be known as “Metro Man” for delivering to the capital a world-class Metro rail system, sent his resignation to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Governor Tejendra Khanna following the accident around 5.00 a.m. Sunday.
In one of the worst accidents involving Delhi Metro, a span under construction in a congested area of south Delhi collapsed Sunday morning, killing five people, including an engineer, and injuring 15 others.
The span that collapsed was part of an elevated section of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (DMRC) new route on the Central Secretariat-Badarpur section. The accident took place around 5 a.m. at the construction site at Zamrudpur near Amar Colony. A launching girder along with a portion of the pier set up on pre-fabricated pillars collapsed.
“I have been working as the in charge of the Delhi Metro project for 10 years… We have maintained fairly high standards of safety. The first accident was in Laxmi Nagar and was a jolt. But today is still a bigger jolt.,” Sreedharan said.
“This is more serious, according to me, than Laxmi Nagar,” he added.
This Metro section was slated to open by September 2010, a month before the Commonwealth Games next year. However, Sreedharan said that the accident would cause “serious” delay in the completion of the line besides inflicting a damage of Rs.6 crore (Rs.60 million).
“Due to this accident, the estimated damage is Rs.6 crore (Rs.60 million) to the whole work. This accident is going to cause a serious delay. We anticipate on this section a delay of at least three months,” said Sreedharan.
Sreedharan has been responsible for the construction of the Metro rail project in Delhi, which uses some of the most advanced technology in the field of civil, electrical, signalling and telecommunication engineering worldwide.
Sreedharan was earlier responsible for building the largest rail project in India after Independence by linking the west coast of India through the 760 km-long Konkan Railway line.
He has been conferred several honours, including the country’s fourth highest civilian award, the Padma Shri in 2001 and he was named the Asian Hero by the Time magazine in 2003.
