Despite Loss E Sreedharan Fulfils Poll Promise, Gets Power Connection For Families By Paying From His Own Pocket

Metroman E Sreedharan despite his loss in the Kerala Assembly Elections, has gone and fulfilled his poll promise to get power connections for his constituents, reports New Indian Express.

Sreedharan had lost the Palakkad seat by a margin of around 4,000 votes to Congress' Shafi Parambil.

During his campaign Sreedharan had promised residents of Maduraveeran colony that all will get power connections whether he wins or loses. Some families in that locality did not have power connections and others had their connections cut due to non-payment of arrears.

Thus this Tuesday (20 May) Sreedharan sent a cheque for Rs 81,525 from his personal savings to Assistant Engineer, KSEB, Kalpathy, to clear the pending dues of the families. Additionally, he has ensured that 11 families will get new power connections as well.

Sreedharan is considered one of India's greatest engineers who in his illustrious career has successfully executed challenging mega projects like the Delhi Metro and Konkan Railway. He has also been credited with planning and implementing the Kolkata Metro and turning around the Cochin Shipyard.

Sreedharan started his career as a lecturer of civil engineering at the Government Polytechnic, Kozhikode, then joined the Bombay Port Trust as an apprentice. Next, he cleared the Indian Engineering Service Exam in 1953 and joined the Southern Railway in December 1954.

He has worked on Kolkata Metro, and was instrumental in Cochin Shipyard Limited’s turnaround. He spearheaded the Konkan Railway project, one of the most difficult railway projects in the world.

He, then, took up the task of developing the Delhi Metro. He finished projects before deadlines, and within 16 years, made Delhi Metro one of the handful of Metro projects in the world that are profitable and were able to shift public commuters en masse to Metro.