Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday, impressed upon officials at the Centre and in states on the need to complete projects in time, saying the delay not only leads to cost escalation but also deprives the public of the intended benefits.
He was chairing a meeting of the 44th edition of PRAGATI, the ICT-based multi-modal platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation, involving the Centre and state governments. This was the first meeting in the third term of the Modi government.
In the meeting, seven significant projects were reviewed, which included two projects relating to road connectivity, two rail projects and one project each of the Coal, Power and Water Resources sectors. The cost of these projects totalled more than Rs. 76,500 crore and relate to 11 states and UTs viz., Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Odisha, Goa, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Delhi.
The PM said the “Ek ped Maa ke Naam” campaign can help safeguard the environment while undertaking project development.
During the interaction, he also reviewed AMRUT 2.0 and public grievances related to Jal Jeevan Mission. These projects together inter-alia address water issues in urban and rural areas. Prime Minister emphasised that water is a basic human need and quality disposal of grievances at district level as well as state level must be ensured by the state governments.
Adequate Operation and Maintenance mechanism of Jal Jeevan projects is critical for its success and the PM suggested the involvement of women self self-help groups where possible and skilling of youth in Operation and Maintenance works.
He advised chief secretaries to personally monitor the works under AMRUT 2.0 and sais the states should make plans keeping in mind the growth potential and future needs of cities. He said that while making drinking water plans for cities, peri-urban areas should also be kept in mind because with time these areas also get incorporated into the city limits.
He said reforms in urban governance, comprehensive urban planning, urban transport planning, and municipal finance are critical needs of the hour, given the rapid urbanisation in the country. He added that one needs to take benefit of initiatives such as the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana to meet the growing energy needs of cities.
The PM also recalled that many of these aspects of urbanisation and drinking water had been discussed in the Chief Secretaries Conference and the commitments given must be reviewed by the chief secretaries themselves.
The PM further asked the chief secretaries and secretaries at the Centre to continue working on the Mission Amrit Sarovar programme. He said the water catchment area of Amrit Sarovars should be kept clean and desilting of these water bodies should be taken up as per requirement with the involvement of Village Committees.