'Metro Man' Sreedharan to help Railways revamp services

With Suresh Prabhu taking over, the Railways has initiated a number of steps to bring about efficiency with former Delhi Metro chief E Sreedharan also being roped in as part of this process.

The Minister is keen on expediting the implementation of various railway projects with full efficiency and transparency, railway officials said.

A new proposal has also been mooted wherein incentives would be given for timely completion of railway projects. Railway Board has been directed to prepare a policy of reward and penalty for this purpose.

Sreedharan, popularly known as 'Metro man', has also been appointed as head of one-man committee by Prabhu to suggest a "proper system and procedure to ensure proper accountability and transparency" at the levels of General Manager and other functionaries for taking all commercial decisions including tendering.

He has been asked to submit an interim report within two weeks and a final report within three months, Railway Ministry officials said.

The committee would suggest the system and procedure and a manual of instructions to be followed to implement Railway Minister’s decision speedily, they said.

Prabhu, in his first decision after taking over on Monday, directed that no tendering process will be dealt with at the level of Railway Minister and instead the powers will be delegated to the operating levels so that proper efficiency in decision making is ensured, the officials said.

The Minister also emphasised on the use of Management Information System (MIS) for proper and time-bound disposal of cases which is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mission of Digital India and E-governance.

The essence of these decisions is to bring efficiency, transparency, decentralization in decision making and expeditious implementation of railway projects, the officials said.

The progress of the projects will be closely monitored closely at the Apex level.