Karmayogi: A Biography of E. Sreedharan

by M.S. Ashokan

At the time of Sreedharan’s retirement, the Delhi Metro was transporting 22 lakh passengers every day. In other words, the metro had replaced at least one lakh vehicles on the road, saving the burning of approximately one lakh tonnes of fuel every year (as of 2011). In addition to saving precious petrodollars, the metro had curbed the increase in air pollution, in which matter Delhi was at a dangerous precipice. Studies revealed that the arrival of the metro had in fact cut air pollution by 27 lakh tonnes per year, and the road accident rate by at least 500 city residents a year. Every time a commuter opted for the metro, he or she would be saving twenty-eight minutes of the day from a single ride. Return journeys would save the traveller at least fifty-six minutes. If we were to convert the net profit yielded by the time saved into labour-hours, 20 lakh hours would be the savings—in other words, surplus human labour of 2.5 lakh hours every day. Delhi could make use of the surplus time available to its people to build a brighter future for itself.