Metro Rail has become the talk of almost every major city. After Delhi and Kolkata, it was Mumbai’s turn to start work on its underground Metro.

The foundation stone for Mumbai was laid by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last June. A small mention of a Bangalorean and his vision for underground metro rail, in a news report the following day, caught our eyes:

“The 50-year-old dream of T S Rao, former chief engineer of the erstwhile Bombay Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking, of constructing an underground railway in the city was fulfilled when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched the ambitious Mumbai Metro Rail Project”, it read.

People in Karnataka may take pride in the fact that the T S Rao mentioned in that report, is a Kannadiga, and a Bangalorean at that.

Rao, a graduate of the then University College of Engineering, Bangalore, was part of the second batch of engineering graduates from this college. He then did a course in electrical technology at the Indian Institute of Science.

After that, Rao had a short stint with M/S Metropolaton Vickers (a leading power equipment UK) in the then Bombay before joining the Indian Railways.

He initially served North Western Railways (now in Pakistan) and was posted in places like Karachi, Hyderabad (Sindh), Peshawar and Lahore. He was also associated with the Sukkar barrage and dam project at the time. He then went to England to train.

Rao was deputed to the Central Government to be the Deputy Secretary of the Central Electricity Commission at Calcutta in 1945 and was instrumental in the planning of power generation for the country.

His office was shifted to Simla and then Delhi and just before Inidia got her Independence, he was sent back to the railways at Lahore. Immediately after Independence, he was posted to the newly formed East Punjab Railway at Delhi. He was thereafter transferred to M&SM Railway.

When reorganisation of the Railways took place, he resigned and joined BEST as a chief engineer mainly to prepare and implement UG Rail Project.

My father was the chief engineer of BEST from 1952-1960. He believed that the tube railway was the answer to traffic problems in Mumbai, and advocated then itself.

He worked hard to this purpose and toured Japan, Russia and England at his own expense and worked out the scheme for mass transport system, 50 years ago. He was a visionary, but the schemes were put off by the powers that be.

And the same scheme was taken up last year, at a cost of a few thousand crore rupees. The cost then would have been just a fraction of what it has cost today.

The BEST website also speaks of my father’s contribution. The erstwhile Mysore State produced many engineers who have done yeomen service to the country after Independence and T S Rao was also one of them.

He was a contemporary of Mr Hayath, former chief electrical engineering of Mysore State and Mr Thakker, a noted power engineer.

Rao’s contract was came to an end on April 30, 1960, after which he came to Bangalore to lead a retired life. He has also been honoured by the British Government with the title of ‘Rao Bahadur’.

My sisters and brothers live in Bangalore and Hyderabad. I feel very proud that T S Rao was my father. We all fondly hope that the underground tube railway in Mumbai will become operational soon, and that our family members will be able to travel in the tube railway soon, both at Mumbai and the Metro in Bangalore.

(The author may be contacted on: 22442907)