Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that this year's budget has set the pace (Gatishakti) of India's development in the 21st century, adding that this direction of 'Infrastructure-based development' will lead to an extraordinary increase in the strength of our economy, creating many new possibilities of employment.
PM Modi stressed the need for PMGS by emphasizing the scale at which the government is undertaking infrastructure development.
PM Modi commented, "Even today, the Logistic Cost in India is considered to be 13 to 14 per cent of GDP. This is more than other countries. PM Gati-Shakti has a huge role in improving infrastructure efficiency". The Prime Minister also talked about the 'Unified Logistic Interface Platform' (ULIP) provided in this budget. "24 Digital Systems of 6 Ministries are being integrated through ULIP. This will create a National Single Window Logistics Portal which will help in reducing the logistics cost", he added.
He was addressing the webinar on the North-East Zonal conference for 'GatiShakti', aimed to bring various stakeholders and hasten infrastructure development and adoption of environment-friendly natural gas in North-East India in Guwahati on Monday.
The conference for PM Gati Shakti (PMGS) was organized by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma; Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri; Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Labour and Employment, Rameswar Teli and many others took part in the meeting. Representatives from various infrastructure Ministries of the Central Government, North-eastern states, and other stakeholders also attended the Conference.
Before the start of the Conference, the dignitaries attended a webinar on the vision of GatiShakti and its convergence with Union Budget 2022, which was addressed by the Prime Minister.
Later speaking at the North-East Zonal Conference, Hardeep Singh Puri said that PMGS is a remarkable initiative, as it aims to drive down logistics costs in India by streamlining and integrating infrastructure projects of various central and state governments. He said that through this breakthrough master plan, major projects across sectors like petroleum, railways, highways, utilities etc. will share a unified vision for accelerated and efficient execution.
Puri said that the petroleum sector will play a crucial role in the North East region's industrial growth. He said that oil production from North-Eastern Region (NER) is expected to increase by 67 per cent from 4.11 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) in 2020-21 to 6.85 MMT in the next 4 years. He further added that the area under exploration in the region is going to double in near future, with crude production expected to go up by 45 per cent in 4 years, and gas production by about 90 per cent in the same period.
Assam CM said that the PM has brought about a paradigm shift in the development of the country, and PMGS will provide a lot of benefits to the people. Stating that the government of Assam is fully on board with the scheme, Dr Sarma informed that the state has already prepared an institutional framework for this and has also started capacity building. Himanta also thanked the Centre for providing funds for capital expenditure.
Rameswar Teli said that connectivity through roads, rail, pipelines, and waterways is an important requirement of development. He said that the PMGS will bring together all the agencies involved in the supply chain. This will enable the country to grow stronger and reach world standards.
Manoj Kanti Deb, Minister of Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs of Tripura, said that the scheme will help in infrastructure development, all types of connectivity as well as doubling of farmers' income. He also said that Tripura is primarily an agriculture-based state, and the improved connectivity through PMGS may help in setting up more industries there.
Kunga Nima Lepcha, Sports & Youth Affairs department of Sikkim, said that the multiplicity of agencies leads to poor planning and bad execution. Gati Shakti will bring about a positive change and will help in the development of the country, particularly in hilly and small states. He said that Sikkim will make full efforts to benefit from the scheme.
PMGS is the National Master Plan (NMP) for 'Multi-Modal Connectivity' which is a digital platform to bring 16 Ministries together for integrated planning and coordinated implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects.
( With inputs from ANI )
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