ACHIEVERS ARE ALWAYS READY TO LEARN  

Dr. E. Sreedharan, the architect of the massive metro project in Delhi, tells students what it takes to build a dream Prof. B. Bhattacharyya, director- general and principal, Prof. Badal Mukherjee, distinguished members of the faculty, esteemed guests and dear awardees and children, students of this elite institution...

I have not come with a prepared address but I would like to share with the outgoing students of the institute some pet ideas that I have which I thought will be very helpful for them in their future career. Just now I have performed a very satisfying and pleasant duty in distributing the post-graduate diplomas to the outgoing students. I wish to congratulate them, for completing their courses successfully here. I also wish to congratulate the recipients of the Dr. Kulwant Rai Silver and Gold medals. You are all very lucky to have this opportunity to study in a very prestigious institution. What this institution has given to you is only just a foundation on which you will have to build the edifice. You must remember that learning is a life long process. Throughout your professional career you will be exposed to many things and you have to learn. Right at the doorsteps of your big institution, a good demonstrative performance in project management is taking place and that is in Delhi Metro.

I feel there are very many things from the project management style that we adopted which would be of great inspiration and great guidance to all of you. Delhi Metro is not the first Metro in India. That distinction goes to Kolkata where a 17-km Metro line, mostly underground, was constructed in 1996. But the Kolkata experience was not a pleasant one, either for the city or for the nation as a whole. For one thing, the Kolkata Metro took 22 years to completion, and the cost for this 17 km went up by 14 times. Drawing a lesson from Kolkata, we in Delhi Metro decided to implement the scheme here in an entirely different style. In that process, we were able to complete a world-class Metro of 65.1 km, costing over Rs 10500 crore in record time of 7 years and 3 months. As a matter of fact, when the first phase of the Metro was handed over to us, i.e. to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, (DMRC), the mandate from the Government was to complete the project in 10 years. We did it in 2 years, 9 months ahead of schedule, that too in the budgeted cost. What enabled us to achieve this should be a good lesson to all of you, particularly the management students passing out of this institution. I am sure many of you must have travelled Delhi Metro and seen that this is a world-class Metro. What is more important is this Metro has been constructed largely with borrowed funds. Of the Rs 10500 crore, almost 2/3rd has come as loan and the Government's contribution is only 1/3rd. The responsibility to service and pay back the loan is with DMRC. Today, we are running more than 1200 trains a day and earning almost a crore a day and I am happy to inform you that we have been able not only to meet our operational expenses but set aside sufficient funds to service and pay back the loan, the interest rates as well as the installment loans we are paying back. This is a good business plan, a model that has got to be copied by any business enterprise. Delhi Metro achieved the impressive record of completing the project in time, and with minimum inconvenience to the public. As a contrast, in Kolkata, when the Metro was being done, the main artery, the Chittaranjan Avenue, was cut open and kept shut for years causing so much inconvenience. We did not want to do that. We adopted special methods to see that our construction procedures did not inconvenience the public. We have been able to achieve this only because of a unique work culture that we have evolved in the organization and certain values which have so assiduously been developed and inculcated in our staff. It is this work culture and these values which I would like to speak to you about because I am sure these values will be a good lesson for all of you when you go out and face your professional careers. The main pillar of this work culture is the organization's values. It is my earnest request that these values are imbibed by every one of you. The first and foremost thing is the value of punctuality. I was happy to see that the entire proceedings of this evening are conducted very punctually. This is a good lesson. For us, in Delhi Metro, punctuality means not a minute late or not a minute early but exactly on time. This is important for us because we realized that if we have to complete our projects on time, every one of us has to be very punctual in whatever we do. And we also realized that if ultimately our business is to run trains and if we are to run our trains punctually, we must be punctual ourselves. This is a fundamental requirement. You will be happy to know that Delhi Metro is the only metro in the world which counts punctuality in terms of seconds. For us, if a train is late by 60 seconds, then the train has lost punctuality. The world over, even in advanced Metros like Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, the least count is 3 minutes whereas we decided to have this strict discipline that if a train is late by one minute, it has lost punctuality. I am happy to inform you that in 1997-98, our punctuality performance was 99.78%. And all that only because our commitment to punctuality in everything we do. More than anything else, I wish to remind you that punctuality is nothing but a courtesy to others. You can't keep people waiting for you. It is a courtesy that has got to be practiced by all of us. The second most important ingredient in our work culture is integrity. When I talk of integrity, it is not merely honesty or lack of corruption. Integrity covers a much larger area of human endeavor. If you see the Oxford dictionary, the meaning of integrity is “having very high moral values.” Ladies and gentlemen, the crowning glory of human character, the crowning glory of life, is character and if you want to have a good character, the most important ingredient is integrity. This is one thing you should practice from day one. As you go about in your profession, there will be very many temptations; temptations which will corrupt you. You have to keep away from these temptations. You have to show that none of these things will influence your decisions. What is in the best interest of the organization is all that will matter to you when you take a decision. This is a quality which gives you a reputation in no time. If you are honest, if you have got high integrity, you have a reputation for that. Right from early in your career, you must acquire this reputation and it should be something like a passport in your pocket so that wherever you go, you will be recognized as a person with very high integrity. The third important thing is professional competence. Knowledge is strength. If you know your subject well, nobody can assail you. If you know your job well, people will respect you. Your bosses will appreciate you and your subordinates will worship you. You must learn your job well. I mentioned to you earlier that from an institution you get only the foundation for your career. You have to build the structure above and in doing so, do it brick by brick very meticulously, and build up your knowledge. And if you know your job well, it gives you a lot of self-assurance and confidence in facing situations and hurdles. A fourth thing which we are in Delhi Metro is we are very particular about health. Please don't take it lightly when I talk about health. You can't achieve anything unless you are very healthy. And if you are very healthy physically and mentally, that relieves, that gives you a lot of stamina, it gives you a lot of self-confidence and it relieves a lot of worries of your parents, your spouses and children. So, have a systematic life which will give you good physical health. We practice it very much in Delhi Metro; it is in all our training schools for all our employees. We make it a sort of religion to them that they must develop good health. And I am happy to inform you that Delhi Metro is one organization where our medical bill may be the lowest. To give good health, there are only three things which are important. One is good and adequate sleep. Normally what happens is that in student days you tend to sit late, burn the midnight oil and get up late. You will have to change this habit. The old saying ‘early to bed, early to rise’ is a very healthy way of spending your life. You must have adequate sleep. In institutions like this, particularly I have seen in IITs and IIMs, this burn the midnight oil syndrome has become a habit. You must reverse that habit hereafter. Try to go to bed early, don't waste your time sitting in front of the TV and have enough sleep. That sleep will give you a lot of not only mental health, mental equilibrium but also a lot of physical comfort. The second most important thing is nourishing food. You are all educated people. Most of you, I am sure must have been born with silver spoons in your mouth. So, having nourishing and timely food is not a problem. This is important for health. The third and most important thing is exercise. We generally tend to underestimate the value of exercise. We also tend to think that because we do a lot of work there is no need for further exercise. You are mistaken. Exercise is very important in daily life. This should be a part of you nature. Aerobics, walking, jogging or gymming and yoga or a combination of both are vital. Unless you are healthy, you will not have that mental alertness. If you are healthy, your output is more, you have better stamina. I come from a railway background where, very often, when an accident occurs; we have to stand at the accident site for hours, 72 hours, 80 hours, 90 hours without sleep, without food. Unless you have the stamina and the health to stand to the rigors of such life, it is difficult to manage. This is the thing for everyone. Even if you are having a desk job, not an active job outside, a good health is an important requirement. Lastly, I want to remind you that you have been very fortunate to get education in a prestigious institution like this one. You are privileged to get such high class education. I think you must learn to impart some of these privileges to society later on. Ultimately, you are not working for yourself. You are not working for your family alone. As an individual you are part of the family, in terms of family you are part of the society and in terms of society, you are part of the entire nation. Whatever you have received, you must learn to give back to society, at least a portion of it. I am one who believes strongly that whatever you get, at least 10-15% should go for the benefit of society. Whatever remuneration you get, set aside at least 10% of that for charity, for the poorer sections of society. Only then you can enjoy the fruit of your labor. Whatever remuneration you get, gets purified. Otherwise, you can go on amassing wealth but you will find that you can't really enjoy; either you are not well or your wife is sick or the children do not do well in education, these sort of problems arise. But if your remuneration is purified, whatever you get by sharing with society, you will find that you will really enjoy the rest of it. You have a duty to society. Remember that this institution has equipped you well to not only serve yourself and your family but also society at large. I have the honor to being the chief guest on this occasion. I wish to thank Prof. Bhattacharyya and the Chairman and members of the Board for giving me this opportunity, particularly to my friend Dr. (Prof.). Rajendra Nair who is present here. But for him, I would not have been able to come here. I thank you all for giving me this opportunity.  

Thank you.