“Gati Shakti” Master plan, a 100-lakh crore National infrastructure plan is an ambitious program of Government of India. It aims to advance speed (Gati) and power (Shakti) to plans by connecting all concerned departments on one platform.
It’ll make a foundation for holistic framework and give a combined pathway to our economy. The program will give multi modal connectivity and create great source of employment openings for the youth in future.
According to numerous experts, the GIS- based ERP system for mapping the entire country is the soul of the Gati Shakti masterplan. This point under this masterplan can change the way planning and administration is done by the ministries. The Gati Shakti masterplan will bring maximum planning and collaboration and minimise holdbacks between the government stakeholders, in this case, varied ministries. Under the Gati Shakti master program, a digital platform has also been created which will bring 16 pivotal ministries on one platform including rail and roadways together for integrated planning and coordinated execution of infrastructure connectivity programs. The ministries include railways, roads and highways, petroleum & gas, telecom, power, shipping, and aeronautics, among others. The platform will give high resolution satellite images, infrastructure, utilities, supervisory boundaries, land and logistics.
Why is the Program Required?
There has been a widening gap between macro planning and micro perpetration, problems of lack of collaboration, lack of advance information, and how thinking and working in silos were leading to hampered construction and decimation of budget. The masterplan would be concentrating more on ending inter-ministerial silos.
India in order to increase its transnational trade needs to increase both manufacturing and exports. The main deterrent in exports is the high cost of our products due to logistics costs, which makes them uncompetitive in the foreign market. Gati Shakti masterplan is targeted to cut logistics costs, and according to the government, this scheme will cut the cost of logistics to GDP to 8 per cent, which was at 14 per cent to start with. The plan will help raise the global profile of regional manufacturers and help them contend with their counterparts worldwide. It’ll also raise possibilities of new upcoming economic zones.
What are the targets under Gati Shakti?
In addition to cutting down on logistics costs, the Indian Railways will establish around 500multi-modal cargo stations in four to five years. The portal will also allow all government departments to track, in real- time and at one centralized place. Through this portal, one can track the progress of various systems, especially those with multi-sectoral and multi-regional impact.
The Rs 100 lakh crore national masterplan includes 11 industrial corridors, achieving a Rs1.7 lakh crore turnover in defence output and having 38 electronics manufacturing clusters and 109 pharma clusters by 2024-25.
It fixes targets up to 2024-25 for all infrastructure ministries. Like for the Road Transport and Highways Ministry, the target is to have National Highways of 2 lakh km, completion of four or six-lane national highways of km along shore side areas and all state capitals in north-east to be connected with four-lane national highways or two two-lane national highways.
The government aims to develop 2 new defence corridors in Tamil Nadu and UP. In addition to these Government aims to equip all townlets in India with 4G network coverage, expansion of the national roadways network to 2 lakh kilometre etc Also, the creation of 220 new aerodromes , copters and water airdromes, 17000 km of new gas channel network are some of the targets that the government wants to achieve. The state governments are also being encouraged to join the platform so that information and data on all infrastructure and connectivity programs can be exchanged to enhance coordination.
This plan will enhance the ease of living as well as the ease of doing business in the country.
How will Gati Shakti work?
To execute Gati Shakti, there will be an Integrated Multimodal Network Planning Group (NPG) which will been trusted with unified planning and integration of proposals as well as connectivity schemes which aren’t part of the current masterplan with an estimated ost of over Rs 500 crore. A network planning group with representatives from all stakeholder ministries will be set up to meet regularly to secure collaboration.
The group will be responsible for partaking their specific Action Plans for 2020-21 to 2024-25 with each other for easing integration of networks, enhancing optimization through revision/ expansion/ new network creation to avoid duplication of works for holistic development of any region as well as reducing logistics costs through micro-plan detailing.
The program will be headed by the logistics division in the commerce ministry along with an empowered group of secretaries headed by the Cabinet secretary to see the perpetration of this major action.
Deliberation on “Gati Shakti” master plan was done #JIMS Kalkaji in #FIEO #Seminar.
Dr. Nupur Rao
For more information visit : https://www.jagannath.org/
