PM Modi from the podium of Red Fort on the 75th Independence Day, announced that they are going to execute PM GATI SHAKTI YOJNA, a master plan.
The literal meaning of GATI is speed and SHAKTI is the power, that means giving speedy power to different schemes launched in India.
According to PM Modi, it is a significant foundation laid for the next 25 years. This will give a boost up to the developmental plans of the 21st century, especially the heavy infrastructural plans, to complete on time. Many times, there is fuss created due to delays in the completion of these developmental infrastructural projects which further adds to the cost of the project, thereby making it not feasible. Despite being an asset, it becomes more like a liability for the companies and the taxpayers suffer a lot.
Projects under PM GATI SHAKTI YOJNA
Under this scheme, many heavy infrastructural developmental projects will work like Bharatmala, Sagarmala, UDAAN, inland waterways, land ports, etc.
Under this scheme, by 2024-25, major developmental projects are to be constructed and fasten the pace of completion. Projects like:
- 11 national corridors
- 2 defense corridor
- 2 lakh route km of national highways
- 220 airports/helicopter/water aerodromes
- 17,00km additional pipelines
- Economic zones like textile clusters, electronic parks, etc. are to be constructed.
The concept behind this scheme
Different departments of the central government and state government work according to their conveniences and plans. There has always seen a lack of coordination and co-operation between these departments, whenever it comes to any development projects especially infrastructural developmental projects.
Let us understand this by taking one simple example.
Suppose if there is road construction going on and it is completed on time. Earlier, it used to happen that sometimes the construction takes even longer time than it should take. In the meantime, cable wires have to be laid beneath the road, so now the road is again dug up and wires are laid. Then again the road is built. This creates a lot of inconveniences for the general public as well as it becomes too expensive. It adds to the expenditure account. Hence, the money of taxpayers is either wasted due to such incompetent planning or allocated in non-beneficial activities.
Let’s take another example – if there is a power plant constructed in a rural region well connected with the road infrastructure, but later on, the management realizes that there is no space for the pipelines which will provide the gas to the plant directly in the road while making it. So now, the last option is to first dig the road which is already constructed, settle the pipelines, and then again build the road to avoid problems or inconvenience in transportation.
In both the examples, few common points are wastage of resources, no coordination between the departments of the governments, no cordial planning, inconveniences to the general public, and the ultimately the benefits of the projects doesn’t reach its end users that is the public and in this entire process, the taxpayer’s hard-earned money is wasted.
This Gati Shakti scheme aims at proper integration, no disruptions, solve the problem of mismanagement and establish worthy way of communication between the different departments of the government as well as the state department to make sure all the ministries work together.
ISRO’S role
Through ISRO’S BiSAG-N, a portal is being built that ensures coordination between the different ministries and ministries can track the progress of different departments regarding any projects.
Key points of this scheme
- COMPREHENSIVE– This scheme brings comprehensiveness between the different departments involved in the infrastructural projects as the activities of all the departments are track able and easily accessible by another department.
- PRIORITIZATION– With the exact amount of required assistance from different departments, itsbecomes easier to prioritize the activities to be performed. The course of action to be taken can be fixed. One can know what should be done first.
- OPTIMIZATION– With better coordination between the ministries, resources can be efficiently and effectively utilized without any wastages.
- ANALYTICAL– Since crucial data will be shared on the portal of respective ministries or departments, the planning can be done more practically and realistically.
- DYNAMIC– With HD satellite assistance, necessary changes in the plan could be done at right time and in the right moment more accurately.
One thing about this scheme must be clear, that, it is just a digital platform that can be accessed by the ministries. This is an umbrella scheme more like that brings 16 ministries including railways for the implementation of infrastructural connectivity projects.
It will provide high-resolution pictures and data which all together will ensure an integrated, well-planned, and coordinated execution of plans by the different ministries.
The best thing about this scheme is it will change the working style of the ministries that is the typical SARKARI WORK CULTURE where the right hand does not know the left hand.
However, the entire plan of execution and implementation is yet to come. This scheme will do nothing but give a boost to the national pipeline project. Also, the funding structure is not very clear regarding how many shares of contribution will be there between govt of states and the center and who will be the private stakeholders.
This entire plan looks easy on paper, but it’ll actually be quite complex when the time will come for the execution part. It is always easy on paper but fails at the time of execution. If the execution part is strong, maximum benefit can reach its end users, otherwise it will lead to a disastrous outcome that could not be easy to handle and cover-up.
A strong layout is needed if we don’t want to let the resources go wasted. If any element of this implementation goes wrong ,the entire scheme will fail and the money of taxpayers will be wasted completely. However, it’s too early to jump to any conclusion about whether this project is beneficial and realistic, or is some fantasy. Only time will tell when we can have a proper map of its structure and funding.
Edited by Anupama Roy
