PM for expediting projects in rural infra, power, coal

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday evening chaired a high-level meeting on infrastructure to review the current status of various sectors like rural infrastructure, power, coal, renewable energy, petroleum and natural gas.  Besides a broad overview of the infrastructure scenario in the country, he discussed status of all the stalled projects in the infrastructure sector and asked ministers to expedite the process.

 Stressing on proper fund utilisation, Modi asked ministers to work towards initialising spending of the budget, in a focused manner right from the start of the financial year. “The concerned ministry gave him a detailed overview of the plans of various departments for completion of pending projects within the current financial year,” sources said. Modi asked for specific data to be collected and presented on priority areas such as toilets, affordable housing and smart cities. He said that 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. Reviewing rural infrastructure, he directed that the highest priority should be given under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana. “Irrigation potential of all reservoir projects should be realised to the extent possible,” he told the ministers.  In the power sector Modi emphasised on electrification of the unconnected villages at the earliest. He also inquired about 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. Union Ministers Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Suresh Prabhu and Ashok Gajpati Raju were present at the meeting. Senior officers from NITI Aayog, various infrastructure Ministries and PMO were also present.