President Pranab Mukherjee attended the 160th Annual Day Celebrations of Central Public Works Department (CPWD) on Saturday at Vigyan Bhawan here.
Speaking on the occasion, Mukherjee called upon CPWD to evolve into a smarter, more dynamic and highly professional organization.
He said it should adopt state-of-the-art procedures for maintenance of assets.
"It is understandable that old organizations are often burdened with out-dated practices. The challenge is to become vibrant and enterprising, and respond quickly to the changing external environment. CPWD should benchmark itself with the best in the world," said Mukherjee.
"It should adopt global best practices to be able to orient itself towards efficiency, cost and quality consciousness and on-time performances. It should adopt latest management techniques to bring in greater efficiency throughout the system," he added.