Former Director General of Border Roads Organisation (BRO), Lt Gen Harpal Singh (Retd), has been appointed as Advisor to the Government of Telangana on Irrigation and Command Area Development. His expertise will be utilised in troubleshooting and expediting the progress of ongoing irrigation tunnel projects. The tenure will be for two years, and he will not be drawing any remuneration.
Lt Gen Harpal Singh is a distinguished officer with more than 40 years of service in the Indian Army, specialising in strategic infrastructure. As Engineer-in-Chief of the Indian Army and later as DG BRO, he played a pivotal role in the completion of several landmark projects, including the Atal Tunnel under Rohtang Pass, as well as the Theing Tunnel in Sikkim, Sela and Nechiphu Tunnels in Arunachal Pradesh, and the planning of multiple other border tunnels in the Himalayas.
His vast experience in designing and executing large-scale civil infrastructure projects makes him a valuable asset for Telangana. The state government had earlier sought his expertise during the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel collapse in February, when Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy reached out to him for assistance in rescue operations. Notably, both Lt Gen Singh and Mr. Reddy are alumni of the National Defence Academy (NDA), 1979–82 batch.
Apart from his military career, Lt Gen Singh is a Civil Engineer by training and actively contributes to professional bodies. He currently holds several prestigious positions, including President of the International Road Federation, Vice Chairman of the Institution of Civil Engineers (India), and Chairman of the Indian Institute of Bridge Engineers.
His appointment is expected to accelerate Telangana’s critical irrigation projects by bringing in advanced engineering practices and proven solutions from his extensive defence and civil works experience.
