Jagdeep Singh, General Manager, Operations, RailTel Corporation of India
Jagdeep Singh is a 1989 batch officer of the Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers. He has over 17 years of experience in the signal and telecommunications department of Indian Railways. He joined RailTel in 2005 as the territory manager in charge of operations and maintenance (O&M) for the Chandigarh region. In a short span of three years, he succeeded in generating revenues of Rs 100 million from this division. Currently, as general manager, operations, RailTel, Singh is in charge of O&M as well as material planning for the Railways and RailTel’s optic fibre cable projects.
He has spearheaded many projects of Indian Railways. As deputy chief engineer, he commissioned various signalling and telecom installations under the electrification project, in the Kurukshetra to Amritsar and Ambala to Moradabad sections. “I am very proud to be a part of Indian Railways. It has taught me project management skills, managerial skills and given me the confidence to face any challenge,” he says.
Singh notes that while the telecom sector is doing very well in the urban areas, a lot of work is still required to be done in rural areas and villages. “I hope and intend to see more penetration of telecom and modern facilities in the rural areas. I am appreciative of the Digital India programme and believe that it will help the country become a world leader in telecom. More importantly, it will benefit every citizen of the country,” he says. According to Singh, RailTel is playing an instrumental role in realising the Digital India goal through its RailWire initiative and as a key implementing agency of the BharatNet project. Further, RailTel is expanding the telecom network in the north-eastern region through the Universal Service Obligation Fund.
Singh believes that team work, sincerity and dedication to one’s organisation are essential for any work to be implemented successfully.
Singh is a graduate in engineering from the Delhi Technological University. In his spare time, he likes to practise yoga, and listen to devotional and classical music. He also likes to spend time with his family, which includes his wife, who works with Bharat Electronics Limited, his daughter, an engineering graduate, who is pursuing an MBA from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, and his son, who has recently completed his senior secondary school. “My family is my biggest support system,” he says.
