India's Unsung Heroes


E Sreedharan, former Delhi Metro Rail Corporation chief, for nation building:

E Sreedharan was also felicitated at the event. He was the managing director of Delhi Metro during 1995-2012. Dr. Sreedharan is recognized for changing the face of Indian public transport by his tireless work in building the Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro. It is only due to his sheer hard work and dedication that he was awarded the ‘Padma Shree’ by the Government of India in 2001, the ‘Man of the Year Award’ by The Times of India in 2002 and was named as one of ‘Asia’s Heroes’ by TIME in 2003. The Government of France also honored him with the Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur in 2005.

He has held a number of assignments as Assistant Engineer, Executive Engineer, Divisional Engineer and Deputy Chief Engineer on the Southern and South Eastern Railways, when he was in-charge of new line constructions. During this time, he was given the Railway Minister’s Award for restoring the Pamban Railway Bridge in 46 days, 125 spans of which were washed away in a tidal wave in December 1963. He was also in-charge of investigation, planning and design of the first ever Metro in the country, at Calcutta.