Delhi Metro Rail Principal Advisor Dr. E. Sreedharan conferred the prestigious ‘V. Krishnamurthy Award for Excellence’!
· Governor Shri Narasimhan confers the award on Dr. Sreedharan
· PPP metro projects have not been a success anywhere in the world: Sreedharan
· Hyderabad Metro has the advantage of having an excellent partner in L&T
· Cost of delaying the project can be enormous
Hyderabad, 14th September, 2012: The prestigious annual award ‘V. Krishnamurthy Award for Excellence’ instituted by Centre for Organization Development (COD) was conferred on Dr. E. Sreedharan, Principal Advisor, Delhi Metro Rail. The award was presented by His Excellency Shri E.S.L. Narasimhan, Governor of Andhra Pradesh at Centre for Organization Development, in the presence of Mr. Habil F. Khorakiwala, U. Pandey, Director, COD and Mr. S. Ramadorai, Vice Chairman, TCS here, today. Earlier Dr. E. Sreedharan delivered an oration lecture on ‘Delhi Metro Rail: A Success Story’. Mr. S. Ramadorai, Vice Chairman, TCS, also delivered a lecture on ‘Cluster Based Development: Creating a vibrant ecosystem’ on the occasion.
Shri E.S.L. Narasimhan eulogising Dr. Sreedharan, said he has performed an impossible task, he is a giant amongst men and a man amongst giants. He has a will to create a way, where there is no way. The peculiarity of Sreedharan is, he has treaded a path which not may tread. Delhi Metro project is a dream project, the way it’s being maintained is simply out of the world. He has done a great societal good by implementing this project. In this world we have either islands of excellence or islands of ignorance; Dr Sreedharan comes out as someone who connects such islands. He called upon COD to publish a book on all the gems that COD honoured with ‘V. Krishnamurthy Award for Excellence’ over the years and circulate it amongst the students, for them to learn as a lesson on excellence. All these visionaries were able to accept challenges with a never say die spirit. He told Dr. E. Sreedharan and Mr. S. Ramadorai, that the future of the youth in the country is in their hands and a biography of theirs will be a valuable contribution to the society.
Dr. E. Sreedharan delivering his oration lecture said, world over PPP model in implementing Metro projects has not been a success. We have two projects coming up under PPP model at Mumbai and Hyderabad and await the outcomes. However Hyderabad has the good fortune of having L&T as a partner, which should immensely benefit it. In implementation of Metro projects, time is money, as time is lost cost of the project will go up. Each day lost will cost Rs 2 crores additional, he said.
The two completed phases of Delhi Metro project were completed well before the time deadline and within the budget. By the time Delhi Metro’s fourth phase is completed it will be the seventh largest metro in the world. Today on an average 22 lakh people travel by Delhi metro, which operates 3000 trains a day at a frequency of every 2 to 3 minutes at peak time. Delhi Metro has also been a financial success with it making an operational profit of Rs 2 crores every day. This profit has helped in contributing towards expansion of the metro by way of taking on 5% of the cost in phase - 2 and 8% in phase -3, besides repaying 60% of the debt from Japan. This despite Delhi Metro’s ticket rate being the lowest in the world, except for Kolkata Metro. According to studies, Delhi metro could ensure one lakh vehicle being off the road resulting in a saving of one lakh tonnes of diesel, pollution prevention to an extent of 27 tonnes a day. Each commuter of Delhi metro saves 56 minutes a day in travelling, thereby saving 20 lakh man hours and 2.5 lakh man days for the country. We have also ensured least inconvenience to the people during the construction of the project. For every plant we cut, we ensured 10 were planted, he added, thereby protecting the environment of the city.
Past recipients of ‘V. Krishnamurthy Award for Excellence’
Centre for Organization Development instituted the ‘V. Krishnamurthy Award for Excellence’ in the year 2000 to recognize Excellence in management. Eminent recipients in the past include Mr. T.P.G. Nambiar, Chairman, BPL Group (2000); Mr. N. Vittal, Chief Vigilance Commissioner, (2001); Dr. K. Kasturirangan, Chairman, ISRO, (2002); Smt. Ela R. Bhatt, Founder General Secretary, SEWA, (2003); Mr. Subir Raha, Chairman, ONGC, (2004); Dr. Y. K. Hamied, Chairman, Cipla, (2005); Mr. Baba N. Kalyani, Chairman & MD, Bharat Forge Ltd., (2006); Mr. Uday S. Kotak, Executive Vice Chairman & MD, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, (2007); Mr. Anil M Naik, Chairman & Managing Director, Larsen & Toubro Ltd., (2008) and Padma Bhushan Dr. S. S. Badrinath, Founder & Chairman Emeritus, Shankar Netralaya, Chennai (2009); Magsaysay award recipient Mrs Aruna Roy (2010) and Sri. S. Ramadorai, Vice Chairman, TCS (2011).
About V. Krishnamurthy Award for Excellence : Centre for Organization Development established the V. Krishnamurthy Award for Excellence, In 2000 to honour individuals who have set high standards of achievement in pursuit of excellence in their respective professions.
Dr. V. Krishnamurthy is the doyen among Indian managers, whose visionary leadership, institution building capability and pursuit of excellence, with concern for people, led to transformation of two gigantic public enterprises – BHEL and SAIL, and nurturing of a new automobile company (Maruti) which revolutionized the automobile and engineering sectors in India. Dr. Krishnamurthy was also Secretary, Industries, Government of India and was associated with a number of academic and professional institutions. he received many honours and awards, including Padmabhushan (1986) and Business Man of the year (1987). Centre for Organization Development had the privilege of his guidance as chairman of the Board of Governors for the first 18 years.
About Centre for Organization Development : Centre for Organization Development was established in January, 1980 in Hyderabad by Late Dr B L Maheshwari, Founder Director, Chairman & Professor Emeritus, as a non-profit registered society. The Centre for Organization Development is engaged in research, training and consultancy on various aspects of Organizational Development including strategy, structure, culture and behavior. It has recognition as a Centre for doctoral research by the Osmania University. The Centre has a distinguished board of governors.
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