Describing Mr E. Sreedharan as a man of great vision and impeachable integrity, the Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dixit, has said the Metro Man, who retires on Saturday, gave Delhi a “new identity” for which people of the city will always miss him.
Showering praise on Mr Sreedharan for his contribution to the city as Managing Director of DMRC in the last 16 years, Ms Dixit said the technocrat transformed the whole public transport system and in the process changed the way Delhiites travel.
“The whole city will miss him. My government will miss him. I do not have words to offer our gratitude to him for giving us a wonderful metro network which is now being followed as a model network by various world cities,” Ms Dixit said.
The 79-year-old technocrat, who joined DMRC in 1995, has been credited with construction of 190 km network across the National Capital Region, which is now considered as the fastest growing metro network anywhere in the world. The metro currently ferries over 16 lakh passengers on week days through over 2,500 trips.
“We owe a lot to Mr Sreedharan. He has offered us one of the most reliable and modern metro networks in the world. He made the city more comfortable and we will remain thankful to Mr Sreedharan for it,” Ms Dixit said at a farewell dinner she hosted for the outgoing metro chief last night.
Mr Sreedharan was given four extensions and earlier this year he had written a letter to Ms Dixit asking her to find his successor well ahead of his retirement in December.
A high-level government panel had selected Mr Mangu Singh, DMRC's Director who oversaw the construction of the high-speed Airport Metro Express, to succeed Mr Sreedharan.
Mr Singh (56), a civil engineer from Roorkee University, was Mr Sreedharan's choice to step into his shoes as the DMRC Managing Director.
Mr Singh is an Indian Railways Service of Engineers (IRSE) officer of the 1981 batch and worked with Mr Sreedharan in the Kolkata Metro project. He has been associated with the Delhi Metro since its inception.
Asked about Phase III expansion of the metro network, Ms Dixit said it would come up under the newly appointed DMRC chief.
Top officials said Mr Sreedharan will not be associated with DMRC in any capacity after his retirement as envisaged earlier.