On the Delhi Metro accident

Had this been any Minister or MoS who'd have resigned after some incident under his or her portfolio, everyone would've quickly insinuated the move as a political gimmick as the MP knows he or she will be re-elected and be able to retain their office (as Sonia Gandhi did in 2006 over the office-of-profit issue only to win the by-election by a whopping 4 lakh votes!) or have their resignation rejected by the PM. This enables the MP to ascend a high level of moral ground while retaining his or her portfolio. Left to themselves, our politicians would own up to nothing! They'd resign only after public disgust vehemently comes out in the open, as during the days after 26/11 when the top two of Maharashtra quit very reluctantly.

But the man in the picture these days is none other than Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur Elattuvallapil Sreedharan. The man is a 77 year old technocrat and project manager par excellence who has rightly been attributed the sobriquet 'Metro Man'. His meticulousness and quality consciousness is an example to all Civil engineers in India and abroad. This Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) MD's inner conscience spoke out the day after the Pier Cap of Pier #67 of the Delhi Metro phase II crumbled (due to faulty design, in all likeliness!) killing six workers on 12th of July. The septuagenarian put in his papers within hours. He rightly said before announcing his resignation: "... even one death is one too many". It's a coincidence that this great man I quoted in my previous blog written over a week ago is in the news today.

But I'd still say that only optimists would hope that our Ministers will hence remember this gesture and do likewise in the future when a botch-up takes place in their area of responsibility . To expect a precedent as having been set by Dr. Sreedharan is wishful thinking.

By the looks of things, swords are already out for Gammon India - the contractors and the designers of the elevated structure of Delhi Metro - even before the enquiry committee's report is out. The company responsible for the landmark building of Mumbai - Gateway of India - is drawing flak from all corners. Gammon is being panned for supposedly failing to adhere to safety measures at the construction site. This is ironic, if true, as Gammon India claims to be the only construction company in India to be accredited with ISO 9001:2000 certification for all fields of Civil engineering. The media is justifying its stand against Gammon India by the fact that it was this same firm which was held responsible for the Punjagutta flyover collapse in Hyderabad in 2007 which killed two people. Gammon has also been vilified for ignoring cracks that construction workers had noticed in the pier a week ago before the incident. And that despite DMRC maintaining that no complaint mentioning the above was registered with them.

Overnight, without a degree or a diploma in Civil engineering or site experience, one finds media-men talking like structural engineers and project management experts on the Delhi Metro bridge. To pin-point the entire blame on the contractors would be jumping the gun. One fact which hasn't been highlighted is that DMRC carries out detailed safety checks on its contractors. Visits to check compliance by the contractors on safety measures ar even made by the great man himself! Thus, the blame for the accident and subsequent loss of lives also falls on the Client. One can presume that the experienced DMRC chief acknowledged and admitted this while stepping down.

It is therefore an incident which requires careful examination and better left to the experts in the enquiry committee appointed by DMRC. They could do without over-the-top sensationalisation by the media which might influence their findings and indict the wrong party.