Pradeep Singh Kharola, a 1985-batch IAS officer, took charge of the BMRCL in August 2013 when only a 6.7-km metro line was operational in the city.
Kharola, who has been appointed the chairman and managing director of Air India, is credited with expediting the metro project even in the face of challenges like the breakdown of the tunnel-boring machine Godavari.
Kharola got kudos from the public when the entire Phase 1 of Namma Metro was thrown open last June. People queued up to take selfies with him. He is also known for turning around the fortunes of the BMTC.
Kharola is also credited with bringing private investment for metro with the 'innovative funding' method. He was instrumental in bringing corporate companies to fund metro stations, especially on the Outer Ring Road metro line between Silk Board and KR Puram (Phase 2A).
He is one of the few IAS officers who have applied for a patent. Along with his son Somendra Singh Kharola, he applied for intellectual property rights on a 'Side lifting garbage collection and transport vehicle' which can load waste faster and make more trips in a prescribed time than the existing systems.
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