Railtel Corporation of India Ltd has started the process of appointing senior officials for the much-hyped broadband venture with an offer to technical officials within the Railways to join the new entity and the release of an advertisement calling for a company secretary and legal expert.
Unlike its catering services counterpart Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) where no appointments have been made despite the company being in existence for several months, Railtel has shown an uncharacteristic sense of urgency.
"We have offered to induct technical officers from the Railways signalling and telecom engineers service. The letters asking for their willingness to join are being sent and most of the technical officials would be selected in-house. For other staff, including secretarial, we could be taking in people from outside," a senior railway official said.
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The company has at present has an officer on special duty, A K Chopra, who is laying the groundwork for the project. Chopra came to Railtel from the Western Railways where he was chief signal and telecom engineer.
Railtel would have a managing director and three full time directors to head projects, finance and network and business management divisions. The Railways are in the process of shortlisting candidates and the names would be sent to the appointments committee of the Cabinet for clearance soon.
Meanwhile, Railtel today advertised for a joint general manager to head the legal division and a company secretary.
"We hope to have key officials in place by December-end and begin work in right earnest. Consultancy major McKinsey, which is preparing a business plan for Railtel, is also expected to submit its report by then," the official said.
On the other hand, IRCTC, which came into being several months before Railtel, is yet to get its permanent staff. IRCTC has started operations under an officer on special duty, S K Malik, and remains virtually a one-man show.
Railtel has been started with a seed capital of Rs 15 crore and has an authorised capital of Rs 1,000 crore. Its exact capital structure would be decided after valuation of the Railways' existing OFC and microwave assets and its right of way (ROW) to be conducted by the consultant.
The Railways would transfer their ROW to Railtel on a long-term lease of 30 years and the existing telecom assets of the railways would be acquired by the corporation, the official said.