Sreedharan was not immediately available for a comment.

The resignation of India’s celebrated ‘Metro Man’ was triggered by the worst-ever mishap in the history of the Delhi Metro, on the upcoming Central Secretariat-Badarpur line of Phase II of the project, at around 5 am. Two people had died in a similar accident on October 19, 2008 at Vikas Marg in east Delhi.

Sreedharan described today’s accident as a “bigger blot”. “For ten years we have maintained a high standard of work atmosphere at the construction sites. What happened last year was a blot on DMRC but we feel this is a bigger blot and a more serious incident,” he said.

The 77-year-old Kerala-born engineer-administrator who has been at the helm of the Metro project since 1997, said that the “dimension and complexity” of the project notwithstanding, the loss of lives was unacceptable.

“Projects of this dimension and complexity have never been attempted before. There were accidents even in Phase I but not of this gravity. But people have had high expectations and image of DMRC. Whether it is a small incident or not, an accident is an accident. I can take a challenge that no other organisation has such high standards of safety. We are still high on our standards but one casualty is still too many for DMRC,” Sreedharan said.

Asked if the Metro’s remarkable record of finishing projects on time — universally admired across India and in many countries abroad — would be affected by his resignation, he said: “Perhaps if a new man comes that may have a setback to the project but my personal conviction about this cannot be compromised. No one is indispensable in any organisation and there are more competent people in the industry.”

... contd.