PM Modi sets deadline for secys to finish infra projects

In a bid to fast-track infrastructure projects, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given specific tasks to secretaries and chief secretaries for timely execution of projects by end of this financial year.

Updated on: Sep 9, 2015, 11:58:26 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

In a bid to fast-track infrastructure projects, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given specific tasks to secretaries and chief secretaries for timely execution of projects by end of this financial year.

Indian-railway-workers-check-the-railway-tracks-prior-to-the-trial-run-of-a-high-speed-train-between-New-Delhi-and-Agra-is-flagged-off-at-New-Delhi-railway-station-AFP-Photo

In the mid-year appraisal of major projects, Modi was apparently anguished at the slow pace of execution, as he highlighted the projects’ importance to India’s path of growth.

The Prime Minister through video conferencing with central and chief secretaries gave specific deadlines for giving necessary approvals, creating infrastructure to start work on projects and commissioning of projects held up for years.

He also sought better coordination between central ministries and state governments to prevent “unnecessary” delay and asked chief secretaries to have state specific monitoring mechanism for projects of national importance.

As per the minutes of the meeting accessed by HT, Modi laid emphasis on providing rail linkage to coal mines and creating corridors to evacuate power from plants coming up in new coal mining areas.

He outlined the benefits of the dedicated freight corridor and asked cabinet secretary PK Sinha to ensure timely execution of the project.

Modi issued instructions with respect to projects in 13 different sectors including the 4,000-MW Ramagundam power project in Telangana and the new railway line between Nadikude and Srikalahasti in Andhra for which the chief ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh had made specific requests.

The department of posts was directed to ensure people can monitor their speed post and parcel online by March 2016. The home ministry was asked to make it’s decade long Crime and Criminal Network Tracking System functional by March 2016, which should link the network with e-courts, prosecution, forensic and prison system.

Delay in execution in projects has cost the government exchequer by over Rs 2,00,000 crore in recent years because of slow pace of land acquisition and environmental clearances.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Check India news real-time updates, latest news on Hindustan Times and more across India.