Former DG of Border Roads Organisation appointed as Telangana govt advisor on Irrigation

Former Director General of Border Roads Organisation (BRO), Lt. Gen. Harpal Singh (Retd), has been appointed as advisor to the Government of Telangana, and his services will be used by the Irrigation and Command Area Development in troubleshooting and accelerating the Irrigation tunnels being undertaken. He will be in the office for two years without any remuneration.

Lt. Gen. Harpal Singh is an accomplished officer with over 40 years of experience in the Indian military, specialising in strategic infrastructure. He has extensive experience in guiding large civil infrastructure projects with expertise in the deployment of advanced technology and solutions, a statement said.

As the Director General of Border Roads Organisation and as Engineer-in-Chief of the Indian Army, he had been instrumental in development of strategic tunnels and many other underground infrastructure assets for defence forces.

He has been the critical force behind completion of Atal Tunnel under Rohtang Pass, progress of Theing Tunnel in Sikkim, Sela and Nechiphu Tunnels in Arunachal Pradesh and also planning of many other tunnels along the border passes in the most uncongenial Himalayan Geology.

Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and Lt. Gen. Singh are alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA) near Pune of 1979-82 batch. When the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel collapsed in February, Mr. Reddy reached out to Lt. Gen. Singh for assistance in the rescue operation. The latter shared his expertise.

He is a Civil Engineer and has specialised in infrastructure development. He holds many prestigious posts in various Civil Engineering bodies, including president, International Road Federation; vice chairman, Institution of Civil Engineers (India) and chairman, Indian Institute of Bridge Engineers.