Thaindian News

New Delhi, July 13 (IANS) Bowing to the request of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and other senior officials, ‘Metro Man’ E. Sreedharan Monday decided to withdraw his resignation letter as managing director of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). Dikshit welcomed the move saying “we want him”.
Sreedharan had resigned Sunday owning moral responsibility for the collapse of an underconstruction elevated section of the Metro in south Delhi that killed six people.

He decided to withdraw his resignation after receiving a letter from Chief Minister Dikshit to continue in the post.

DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal told reporters that Sreedharan decided to withdraw his resignation after he received a letter Sunday night from the chief minister requesting him to continue in the post, and after the “persuasion of Lt Gov Tejendra Khanna and Minister for Urban Development Jaipal Reddy”.

Sreedharan inspected the accident site twice Monday but did not attend the usual weekly meeting of the DMRC in the morning.

Welcoming his decision not to quit, Dikshit said: “He is a very eminent person. He has done so much work. An inquiry has been instituted (into the causes of the accident), let’s see what went wrong. We want him and everyone wants him.”

Explaining the reasons for turning down the resignation, Dikshit said: “I refused the resignation of E. Sreedharan because Delhi Metro is a type of work that is not only necessary for Delhi but has made Delhi proud. The fast progress of construction has been possible only because of E. Sreedharan.”

Meanwhile, in another accident Monday, six people were injured when three huge cranes supporting a launching girder toppled at the very site where six people were killed a day earlier when a section of the elevated rail track under construction came down in a heap of concrete and steel.