Ganga Sagar Express - सारे तीर्थ बार-बार, गंगासागर एक बार - Rahul Kumar

Q: Please talk about your experience in Konkan Railway project?
For Konkan Railway, the credit goes to George Fernandes, though he is in a vegetative state today. It was his dream. It became a reality only because of a particular philosophy for which I must claim the credit — a formula that we worked out.
When Mr Fenandes took over as the Railway Minister, in his very first meeting with the board members, he shared his dream - Konkan Railway for his constituency. At that time it was Besco Railway and he wanted...
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connectivity from Mumbai to Mangalore and a bridge across Gantak River. I was on leave at that time. When I came back I was conveyed this.
I would call it a divine message. If railways had to do it, it would never have been done simply because railway budget for every year is hardly Rs 200-250 cr. Already 30-40 projects were on, which would get Rs 5-10 cr every year. Konkan Railway needed about Rs 3000 cr.  If we were to utilise Rs 10 cr each year from the budget, it would take us 30 years, where the cost would escalate from Rs 3,000 – 6,000 cr. An idea came up. Why should the railway have to do it? Why cant a Build Operate and Transfer route be used and a company be formed to raise the money for the project? With railways as the partner, ultimately the project would surely go to the Railways. I put across this idea to Mr Fernandes and said this way the project could be completed in 7-8 years. He immediately accepted the idea, got approval of the cabinet and the prime minister. The Janata Dal government was in power with VP Singh as the prime minister, Madhu Dandavate was the finance minister. They all agreed. The success of the project was only due to two reasons — the financial pattern and they decided to put me in charge of the project. In exactly seven years we completed the project.
It was a very difficult project where 93 tunnels were dug, where the longest tunnel was about 6.5 km near Ratnagiri with undulating soil conditions and only 5-6 months of working season. There were 149 major bridges with the longest bridge of more than 2 km. Technically it was a very difficult project but we managed. Primarily because of the team I had mobilised. Since I was member Railway Board I could pick up engineers to suit the project.
I would say in Konkan Railway, Delhi Metro and Pamban bridge, the success was because of the peculiar work culture we had adopted. These are all government department and companies but they were not working like a government agency at all.  I could bring in a new culture all because I was given the freedom to start the organisation, select my own people and lay down the rules.  The problem is while the shining example is here, it is still not being replicated elsewhere. Give people a free hand while engaging a person. Bureaucracy is not about only quoting rules. There’s an administrative manual. You should not quote the manual every time.  I always compare it with the brake system in automobiles. You require brakess for the safety but you cannot be putting brakes all the time, then the vehicle will not move.
Q: The Pamban Bridge project connecting Rameshwaram to mainland Tamil Nadu was blown away. You had set it up in record 47 days when the government expected six months. Please talk about it in detail.
It was engineering innovation and a freedom to work rather than attitude or culture that made the project a success. The government expected it to finish in six months but the local general manager Mr Ganguly who is a great devotee of Rameshwaram felt devotees from north India cannot wait for six months to go to Rameshwaram and hence it should be restored in three months. He gave me three months.  I was able to do it in exactly 47 days.
This bridge has 146 spans, with each span having 40 metres of steel girders. Out of 146 spans, 126 girders and two piers got washed away.  The Railways wanted to rebuild the piers, which would have taken three months. We had to manufacture so many girders and fetch them from workshops all around the country. That itself would have taken three months. To move all the girders and launching them to the site was a humongous effort. Only one girder could be moved at a time. Those days only steam crane could do the task and that’s how Railways calculated six months.
I had a marine background. Before joining the railways I was a sub engineer at Bombay Port Trust in Butcher Island project inside the sea. I was familiar with sea conditions, as such. When I visited the spot, I found that all the girders were washed away and not destroyed. They were lying 1-3 kms away from the site in the bottom of the sea, undamaged.
I decided to fish out these girders and used a special kind of lifting arrangement. Sent divers to hook the girders to pull them. Everything got salvaged. We started launching. We put all prefabricated tracks once the girders were placed. Instead of doing it from one end to another, we started working from both ends and used something that could pick up a girder and place it very fast. Every bit of design fabrication was done by me. It was pure innovation through which we finished it in 47 days. While Railways wanted to put one girder followed by another, we were working at a pace where we were putting six girders in a day.
It’s all divine dispensation and I was a mere tool. When I look back I wonder how did it all happen so fast. But we were able to do it.
Q: You were appointed by former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to serve on the United Nations’ High Level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport (HLAG-ST) for a period of three years. Please talk about the project?
Mr Ban ki-Moon had created a committee on sustainable transport. In that committee all members were from the US or Europe. There was nobody from East. They were preparing a report from their own perspective.  I was nominated. In the very first meeting I found what was happening and how it had no relevance to half the globe. I gave my own ideas how a developing country could be made party to it. A country like Germany already has sustainable transport but countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh do require one. My ideas were welcomed. In the report we suggested a committee should be set up to monitor the recommendation. That never took place because the new secretary general was never too keen about it. Ban Ki-Moon had lived in India and was aware of the Indian problem.
Q: You are also part of the Vaishnodevi Shrine board. Would you like to talk about the new easy track that has been set up to reach the shrine?
I was nominated as one of the trustees of the shrine board by the present governor NN Vohra. He wanted me to look after the developmental projects. I agreed. The idea was to build a third easy track for pilgrims to reach the shrine and a material ropeway to carry materials to the top instead of animals. Also a passenger ropeway from the shrine to Bhairobaba Mandir, which is quite steep to climb. I designed these things and got RITES to prepare a project report. I was handling these projects. I am very happy to say that the projects are completed and I am going on inspection and clearance.
Q: Any other new project you are working on and would like to share?
These days apart from the Metro Railways and many developmental projects I am handling, I have got involved in another activity – Foundation for Restoration of National Values (FRNB).  I am the country president. The idea is — today the fundamental values like dharmam, satyam, sadacharam are vanishing from the society. We want to restore them. The idea is children should be given good values not just at home but in schools and educational institutions. Even IITians should be given these values. What is the point of being a great engineer if there is no love for the country? We want to inculcate values like love for the nation, empathy and love for fellow human beings.  We have started this in many places. Getting parent teacher associations involved is one way. We want to have police reforms, electoral and administrative reforms. We target decision makers instead of working at grassroot level. Our idea is to bring the change by bringing the decision makers and policy makers. I met the PM. We have started the Kochi chapter and trying to improve the technical education standards. We ran into trouble with the Kerala government and moved a PIL and the court supported us by ordering the state government to abide by our directives. It is sad to see students writing obituaries when a principal retires. We ought to stop that attitude and mold them by inculcating finer values.
sudeshna.banerjee@mydigitalfc.com
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