Creativity at work defines the 'flyover man' of Delhi

Dinesh Kumar, the top civil engineer in the city, is not completely a concrete and rubble man.

The engineer-in-chief of the Public Works Department recently showed his artistic side by illuminating Mahatma Gandhi’s mural on his office’s wall at ITO with decorative lights, representing the three colours in the National Flag, as part of the Independence Day celebrations.

At 59 years, the civil engineer from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, shows no signs of fatigue and is working on several road and flyover project concepts simultaneously.

“My work is my hobby,” says Kumar, who is also known as the “flyover man” because of his personal touch to virtually all infrastructure projects that have come up in the city over the last three decades.

“The biggest challenge in the city is to keep the 1,250 km stretch of busy roads fit for hassle-free movement of vehicles,” he said.

Special attention to city

“Being a growing city with great number of vehicles, Delhi demands a special effort every time we sit on the drawing board. Each project takes three-four years and by the end of the project we find that most of the requirements have changed from the planning stage,” he said.

The engineer who transformed the capital’s road infrastructure in the run-up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games says it gives him great satisfaction when he moves around on roads and uses flyovers, bridges, subways and elevated roads designed and built by him.

He is also credited with bringing to Delhi the internationally used concrete roads and incorporating them at the AIIMS and Dhaula Kuan crossing projects. “Road designing and accident prevention is another aspect of PWD’s work. We keep reviewing the situation on the busy stretches to ensure motorists’ safety,” he said.

Kumar, who was awarded the Meri Delhi Award for exceptional public service on August 23, is also the brain behind the hugely successful Barapullah elevated road which was built under his supervision, along with the Millennium Bus Depot, in a record time and low cost ahead of the CWG.

“There were many flip flops before the Barapullah road project was approved. At one stage, a tunnel was to be built to link Jawaharlal Nehru stadium with the CWG Village. Later, the elevated road was approved and we ran against time to complete the project,” he recalled.

The top PWD engineer is also credited with introducing European-style landscaping and incorporation of the green building concept during construction of hospitals, courts, schools and stadiums.