RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, Jan.18: BJP state president and Rajya Sabha member Deepak Prakash today expressed his concern over the way the plan is being chalked out to implement the prime minister’s ambitious Gati Shakti Yojna in Jharkhand.
“It is difficult for Gati Shakti Yojana to get off the ground in the present situation. Mere preparation of a master plan by forming a committee would not work. What is needed is the spirit of taking this master plan on the ground, which is not visible in the state,” Prakash said.
He said he sees hurdles in the implementation of the PM’s ambitious scheme saying though the law and order has badly deteriorated in the state and basic infrastructure has become dilapidated, the government is not in a position to carry out any repairing work.
Prakash on the occasion also explained the scheme of the PM which included the following points.
- Gati Shakti will incorporate the infrastructure schemes of various Union ministries and state governments — Bharatmala, Sagarmala, UDAN, inland waterways, dry/land ports etc.
- Economic Zones such as textile, pharmaceutical and fishing clusters, electronic parks, defence and industrial corridors, and agriculture zones will be covered to improve connectivity.
- Technology, including spatial planning tools with ISRO imagery developed by the Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geoinformatics (BiSAG-N) will be leveraged. BiSAG-N functions under the Ministry of Information Technology (MeITY).
- Gati Shakti aims to increase productivity of industry, enhance their competitiveness, support local manufacturers, and also help in developing new possibilities for new economic zones.
- The master plan has been prepared depicting economic zones and the infrastructure linkages that are required to support them to ensure seamless movement of goods.
- The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will be the nodal ministry, and it will monitor and implement all the projects, with a national planning group regularly taking stock.
- An empowered group of secretaries under the chairmanship of the cabinet secretary will be formed to approve any changes required in the master plan.
- All existing and proposed economic zones have been mapped on a single platform in three time periods — status as of 2014-15, achievements by 2020-21, planned interventions up to 2024-25.
- The public and business community will get information regarding the upcoming connectivity projects, industrial areas, other business hubs and the surrounding environment so investors can plan their businesses.
- The plan envisages creation of multiple employment opportunities, and aims to improve the “global competitiveness of local products by cutting down the logistics costs and improving the supply chains”, also ensuring proper linkages for local industry and consumers, the government has said.
