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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday met secretaries of the infrastructure ministries, including roads, railways, ports, power and coal, as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is about to complete one year in office.
Infrastructure has been a thrust area for the Modi government, and the meeting was called to assess the work done in the sector, ever since it came to power in May 2014. Stalled projects were discussed as well.
Besides a broad overview of the infrastructure scenario in the country, the meeting focused on the specific sectors of rural infrastructure, power, coal, renewable energy and petroleum and natural gas, a government statement said, after the meeting. The prime minister was apprised of the steps being taken to enhance infrastructure creation in accordance with his vision for the 75th year of India's independence.
Government departments must work towards initialising spending of the Budget in a focused manner right from the start of the financial year, the PM told the officials, who elaborated on the plans of various ministries for completion of pending projects within the current financial year.
The PM asked for data on priority areas such as toilets, affordable housing and smart cities. He said in the urban areas, one of the priorities should be in creation of waste to wealth, and efficient systems for waste water disposal and solid waste management in 500 cities.
Highest priority should be accorded to the work envisaged under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, according to the PM. He said irrigation potential of all reservoir projects should be realised to the extent possible.
In the power sector, the PM brought out the importance of electrification of the unconnected villages. He also took stock of the progress on renewable energy goals, and directed maximum focus on this area. He said public spaces such as railway stations should be priority areas for adopting energy efficient technologies, and renewable energy.
Cabinet ministers Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Suresh Prabhu and Ashok Gajpati Raju were present at the meeting.
