Jammu: Jammu Kashmir Government has approved the appointment of Dr Elattuvalapil Sreedharan, the “Metro Man” as the Principal Advisor to the two Mass Rapid Transit Corporations in the State.

It may be recalled that the the Government has recently approved setting up of two Mass Rapid Transit Corporations in the State, namely the Jammu Mass Rapid Transit Corporation and the Srinagar Mass Rapid Transit Corporation for the two capital cities of the State.

Dheeraj Gupta, Principal Secretary to Government, Housing & Urban Development, Department is the Chairman and Kumar Rajeev Ranjan, is the Chief Executive Officer/MD of the two Mass Rapid Transit Corporations.

These Corporations will have Administrative Secretaries of Finance Department, Transport Department, Chief Executive Officer, J&K ERA, Additional Chief Executive Officer/MD, Mass Rapid Transit Corporations Jammu/Srinagar, nominee of Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Govt of India and other experts with the Board.

Official spokesman said that these Corporations will address the issue of urban mobility in the State in a holistic manner by providing safe, affordable, quick, comfortable, reliable and sustainable access for the growing number of city residents to jobs, education, recreation and such other needs within our cities, establishment of quality focused multi-modal public transport systems that are well integrated, providing seamless travel across modes, land use transport integration, introducing intelligent transport systems for traffic management etc.

The proposed Corporations will provide and arrange integration of various modes of mass transit and other urban transport and People Mover Systems including but not limited to feeder transport services and ancillary arrangements like parking, circulation areas, etc.

The companies would undertake to provide for running taxicabs, lorries, buses, cars, trucks, station wagons, motors, railways, rail motors, vessels, boats and all other vehicles of whatsoever kind propelled by electricity, gas, gasoline, compressed air, steam, manual power, mechanized power, oil, crude oil, atomic or other energy or whatsoever other means from one place to another as intercity or intra-city services or BRT feeder bus services for the purpose of carrying, conveying and transporting passengers, goods, merchandise, animals or other things for efficient running of the mass transit system and providing last mile connectivity.

While thinking anything about the Mass Rapid Transit systems in India, the first name which comes to everybody’s mind is of Dr. Elattuvalapil Sreedharan, a retired IES (IRSE) officer, Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan, popularly known as “Metro Man”, who is credited for changing the face of public transport in India with his leadership of building Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro.

He was also appointed by the former UN Secretary General Kan-Ki-Moon to serve on the United Nations High Level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport (HLAG-ST) for a period of three years in 2015 and has vast experience in the implementation of mass rapid transit systems within the country.

Recent appointment of Dr. Sreedharan as Principal Advisor to the two Corporations will give the impetus to efforts of the State Government.