Satyendra Dubey

I know this is not much, but I thought I would post this as a sort of homage and hopefully let more people know about Satyendra Dubey (I received this via the alumni mailing list):

Bio-graphical note on Mr Satyendra K Dubey

Former Deputy General Manager/Project Director, Koderma Project Implementation Unit, National Highway Authorities of India (NHAI)

Born in a small village in Sewan (Bihar), Mr Satyendra Kumar Dubey studied in a village school before successfully competing in the IIT joint entrance exam. He graduated from IIT Kanpur with a B Tech degree in Civil Engineering in 1994 with second position in his class. Fuelled by his desire of contributing to public welfare, Mr Dubey chose to join the Indian Engineering Services as opposed to pursuing a glittering corporate career or greener pastures abroad. In July 2002, he was posted as an Assistant Project Manager at the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). Honest and dedicated, Mr Dubey made his mark on the Rs 450 crore highway stretch.

He used to ride his bicycle to the quarry to inspect the quality of stone and other equipment to enforce commitment to contracts. He never compromised on quality and once forced a contractor to reconstruct a 6 km stretch of highway after discovering inferior work. Mr Dubey invariably visited work sites several times a week, instead of the usual practice of once in some months. While posted at Gaya on a project, he once got three engineers suspended for mishandling of funds.

Mr Dubey was selected as the Deputy General Manager/Project Director of the Koderma Project Implementation Unit to handle the 5,200 km stretch in the Golden Quadrilateral Corridor Project. A dreadful fate however awaited the courageous and upright young man. While travelling by rickshaw to his house from railway station on the morning of November 27, 2003, Mr Dubey was murdered and was found lying near A P colony in Gaya, shot dead by a highly sophisticated weapon. It appears that some people who found it inconvenient to have Mr Dubey as the Project Director eliminated him.

Mr Dubey did what he did despite of personal consequences, obstacles, dangers and pressures. In recognition of his honesty, integrity, dedicated service and upright behaviour in public life, the Satyendra K Dubey Memorial Award has been instituted by IIT Kanpur.