Secretariat bemoans casual details in infra proposals sent to Cabinet

Says project proposals should contain a statement on "major milestones" and "corresponding target dates for achieving them"

In a missive to all ministries, the Cabinet Secretariat has ticked them off for neglecting to include key details in proposals related to infrastructure projects sent to the union cabinet and cabinet committees.

In an ‘office memorandum’ to all secretaries on Tuesday, the Cabinet Secretariat said infrastructure proposals sent for the consideration of the cabinet and cabinet committees should contain a statement on “major milestones” and “corresponding target dates for achieving them”.

It said that this appendix “is to be specifically mentioned and brought to the attention of the cabinet/cabinet committee as part of the approval paragraph”.

It said that the ministry or department moving the proposal is also required to indicate the time frame and manner of implementation of the decision in the “statement of implementation schedule”.

The Cabinet Secretariat also advised ministries and departments to “incorporate specific physical and financial milestones with corresponding targets for their implementation”.

Proposals for the consideration of the cabinet and cabinet committees have to adhere to ‘the handbook on writing cabinet notes’, which is revised from time to time.

The Cabinet Secretariat’s note bemoaned that “in spite of clear instructions on the subject, it is observed that ministries/departments are not paying adequate attention while fixing milestones and timelines at the stage of finalizing the note”.

It said these details are being included in the note in a “perfunctory and casual manner”. It said in several cases the details in appendices are “sketchy” and “they neither contain specific targets/milestones nor clear timelines”.

“This affects the monitoring of timely implementation of infrastructure projects leading to avoidable time and cost overruns,” the Cabinet Secretariat said.

It asked ministries and departments to specify clearly identifiable timelines for different activities and milestones in the relevant appendices in the notes for the cabinet and cabinet committees as these details are crucial for effective review and monitoring of infrastructure projects.

Recently, the Cabinet Secretariat had also ordered a revamp of the government’s e-Samiksha platform. The e-Samiskha platform is a real time, online system for monitoring implementation of projects and decisions taken by the cabinet and cabinet committees.

The platform was put in place by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after forming the government in 2014.

Ministries and departments were informed of the revamped e-Samiksha platform on June 30, and asked to adhere to the instructions by July 10.

The revamp is an effort to ensure that various milestones and targets of projects approved since 2014 are being met.

The revamped e-Samiksha platform will be rolled out on July 16.

Apart from details like the subject matter of the decisions that are already currently mentioned, the revamped platform will now have information relating to major milestones with target dates.

The revamped platform will also have specific details on whether the decision is legislative, infrastructure, policy or a scheme, and details on beneficiary states and districts.

Last October, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba had sent a letter to all ministries asking them to review all unimplemented decisions of the union cabinet and cabinet committees since May 2014.

He had asked ministries to draw up timelines for their expeditious implementation.