Үнді инженері Элаттувалапил Сридхаран: «Метро адамы» өмірбаяны

Indian engineer (born 1932)

Elattuvalapil Sreedharan (born 12 June 1932) is an Indian engineer and politician from the Indian state of Kerala. He is credited with changing the face of public transport in India with his leadership in building the Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro while he served as the managing director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) between 1995 and 2012. Known as the Metro Man, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2001, the Padma Vibhushan in 2008, the Chevalier de la Legion of Honour Sreedharan was appointed by the former UN Secretary General Ban Ki moon to serve on the United Nations's High Level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport (HLAG ST) for a period of three years in 2015. He is a member of Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board. He briefly served as a national executive council member of Bharatiya Janata Party, but later quit active politics in December 2021. He also worked as an advisor of Dhaka Metro authority which is called Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited under the Railway Ministry of Bangladesh.

E. Sreedharan was born on 12 June 1932 in present day Karukaputhur, Palakkad District, Kerala, India into a Hindu Malayali family to Keezhveettil Neelakandan Moosath and Ammaluamma. Sreedharan's primary education was from Government Lower Primary School Chathannur near Pattambi in Palakkad district. He completed his education at the Basel Evangelical Mission Higher Secondary School and then went to the Victoria College in Palghat. He later on completed his Civil Engineering degree from the Government Engineering College, Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, presently known as Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University. E. Sreedharan and T. N. Seshan were classmates at BEM High School and Victoria College in Palakkad. Both of them were selected for Engineering in JNTU Kakinada, a university in a port town in Andhra Pradesh, however, E. Sreedharan decided to pursue it, while T. N. Seshan decided to join Madras Christian College (MCC).

He was promoted as general manager, Western Railway in July 1987, and in July 1989 elevated to the post of Member Engineering, Railway Board and ex officio Secretary to the Government of India.

He was made the managing director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation by then Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma and by mid 1997 all the scheduled sections were completed by their target date or before, and within their respective budgets. Sreedharan was given the sobriquet of Metro Man by the media for his grand success in executing the completion of the Delhi Metro. His stint in the Delhi Metro has been considered so successful and crucial to India that in 2005, he was awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) by the government of France, and the Padma Vibhushan by the government of India in 2008. He was particularly known for isolating his projects from political pressures and influences and winning political commitments for fast execution of projects. He had announced that he would retire by the end of 2005, but his tenure was further extended to oversee the completion of the second phase of Delhi Metro. After 16 years of service with the Delhi Metro, Sreedharan retired from service on 31 December 2011.

After his retirement from DMRC, Sreedharan has been appointed as Principal Advisor of the Kochi Metro Rail Project. Initially, the project faced hurdles when a controversy broke out with the government announcing a global tender process for Kochi Metro, rather than letting DMRC handle the consultancy and project execution as Sreedharan and DMRC had initially asked for. However, several political parties came out in opposition of the move, and backed Sreedharan's decision in enforcing DMRC's role in the Kochi Metro, after which the government reversed its stance. Kochi metro was finally unveiled on 17 June 2017 amidst much celebrations. The unveiling of the metro was considered a landmark event in India in terms of completion time, control systems used and initiatives such as employing transgender people, vertical gardening, respecting migrant labourers, and use of solar power.

He has been advising for the Jaipur Metro as well as DMRC has undertaken its implementation. He has also been appointed as advisor for a proposed Metro rail system in Andhra Pradesh in the Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada (VGTM) areas, under the leadership of the Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. He has also been advisor for Coimbatore Metro.

Before joining politics, he commented on various political issues. Ahead of the 2014 Indian general election he endorsed Narendra Modi as Prime Minister and praised him for his quick decision making as Chief Minister of Gujarat. When the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi announced to give free travel facility only to women passengers on buses and Metro trains, he opposed the decision and wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "personal intervention". He opposed Kerala Government over a legislation which facilitate student organisational activities in all educational institutions, including private self financing colleges. He in statement said "campus politics is being encouraged by politicians and even by government leading to disruption of classes, student clashes, criminal activities such as murders, stabbing incidents etc. Unfortunately, some teachers with political leaning give mute support to such activities". He suggested that the KMRL must reduce fare prices and called outside consultants for Kochi metro's Pettah Thripunithura extension a "foolish act". He suggested the Indian Railways to stop borrowing capital for its operations and raise fare prices. Sreedharan called India's Mumbai Ahmedabad high speed train project as a "highly expensive" undertaking that caters only to the elites.

On 18 February 2021, Sreedharan joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. He contested in 2021 Kerala Legislative Assembly election from Palakkad assembly constituency and got 35.34% of votes polled, losing to the incumbent Shafi Parambil of the Indian National Congress, who got 38.06% of votes. However, Sreedharan quit active politics on 17 December 2021.

Sreedharan has said he strongly opposes Hindu and Christian girls being tricked in marriage", calling it love jihad; he has also said that because he is a vegetarian, he opposes any consumption of meat. In a 2021 interview to The Economic Times, he stated that Narendra Modi "is probably the best PM India has had so far".

Sreedharan's wife is Radha Sreedharan. His daughter is Shanthi Menon, principal of the Deens Academy, Bangalore.