Govt to install dashboards in ministers', secretaries' offices

New Delhi: Taking a leaf out of Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, the present NDA government has decided to install dashboards (digital screens) in the offices of all Cabinet ministers, Ministers of States and secretaries to keep a tab on the progress of all projects on the real-time basis. The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, which is headed by Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, has been tasked to install the dashboards in the offices of all ministers and secretaries by the year end.

According to sources, the objective behind installing dashboards is to monitor the progress of projects on daily basis and to find out prompt solutions to avoid any delay. The online screens would be installed in the offices on the advice of Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the sources said.

Explaining about the project, the sources said, "It's a part of the Digital India initiative of the PM to streamline timely completion of all important projects. The move is aimed at keeping a close watch on the execution of key projects. The dashboard would have details such as project cost, commencement date and completion date, reasons for the delay if any." "The timely information would help in taking corrective measures by the concerned officials. The information provided in the dashboard would have all the details in brief as it is being displayed at railways stations through different display boards. Each minister and secretary would get two or three dashboards in their offices," the source said.

According to sources, the objective behind the move is to keep reminding ministers and concerned secretaries about the project completion target so that projects get competed much before the stipulated time.

"Given that the government is very particular about timely completion of developmental projects, the real-time monitoring of the projects would help in expediting the execution of projects in a better way. On completion of projects, the dashboards would display exact amount spent on the project and time taken to complete the project," the sources said.

It's worth mentioning that recently the PM had set a five-year deadline for completing all pending projects. The PM had clearly directed all secretaries at Centre and chief secretaries of states that the "yesteryears' speed of implementation won't be acceptable". The PM had directed all the officials to complete all projects by 2022, the year when the country would be celebrating 75 years of Independence.

It's so that newly appointed Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu has advanced the completion date of ambitious Bullet train project by August 2022.