New Direction to the Gati Shakti Programme: Know it all

The Gati Shakti National Master Plan (PMGS-NMP) which was launched on 13th October 2021 aimed for transformative and economic growth. It was given approval by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) and was implemented on 21st October 2021. Dhanaay brings to focus the main arenas of the changes and improvisations in the sector adopted by the government. The economic growth and connectivity are mainly driven by 7 engines which include Railways, Roads, Ports, Waterways, Airports, Mass Transport and Logistics Infrastructure. These engines work in unison for the overall growth of the economy. They are supported by the additional roles of IT Communication, Bulk Water and Sewerage, and Social Infrastructure. The approach is headed by Clean energy and Sabka Prayas which is a united effort by the State, Central Government and private sectors together, leading to huge job and entrepreneurial opportunities for many sections of society. With the connectivity to the above-stated 7 engines in the “National Infrastructure Pipeline”, the project aims to provide a world-class modern infrastructure and logistics synergy using different modes of movement of both people and goods. This, in a way, accelerates the growth of the movement and leads to overall economic development. The plan was developed as a Digital Master Planning tool by BISAG-N and was prepared in a dynamic Geographic Information system (GIS) platform wherein all the departments have been incorporated within a comprehensive database. The development of all infrastructural projects with real-time updates is provided with the help of a map developed by BISAG-N. The map will then be built on open-source technologies and securely hosted on MEGHRAJ which is the cloud of the Government of India. It uses satellite imagery which is available from ISRO and bases maps on the Survey of India. The ongoing future projects have been integrated with 200+ GIS layers which facilitates the planning, designing and execution of the infrastructural projects. The vision of Gati Shakti includes the incorporation of multiple infrastructural schemes of various Ministries and State Governments like Bharatmala, Sagarmala, inland waterways, land ports, UDAN and so on. Areas to be covered for holistic economic growth include textile clusters, pharmaceutical clusters, defence corridors, electronic parks, agricultural zones etc., which makes businesses more competitive. It has developed six main pillars for the attainment of its goal: 1. Comprehensiveness: Each Department will have transparency and visibility of other departments so that they can keep a track of each other and provide productive criticism on the areas required for the execution of the plan. 2. Prioritization: This is an important requirement as Departments are expected to prioritize their works as per the need and demands of the masses and cross-sectional interactions. 3. Optimization: The National Master Plan requires assisting different ministries in planning their projection and providing critical feedback. For instance, in the transportation of goods from one place to another, the plan will be in need of selecting the most convenient route in terms of both time and cost. 4. Synchronization: It is often seen that individual ministries' work leads to delay due to lots of burdens on a single hand. The plan, therefore, takes into notice that each department works with the aid of others by ensuring a level of coordination between them. 5. Analytical: The plan aims to provide the entire data in one place with the help of GIS special planning and analytical tools which have 200+ layers and enable a lot better visibility to the executing agency. 6. Dynamic: It is solely important to have a flexible outlook and accept ideas and perspectives from various ends. The Departments visualize and review the progress of cross-sectional projects, through the GIS platform, the result of which is regularly updated on the portal. This helps in the identification of significant interventions for enhancing and updating a master plan. After emphasizing the importance of the programme, PM commented that the capital expenditure of the government for the year 2013-14 was Rs 2.50 Lakh core which due to the Master Plan will increase to about Rs 7.5 lakh core in 2022-23. For him, it was significant to strengthen the principle of cooperative federalism for which 1 lakh had been devoted. This would also assist the State Government in the development of the multimodal infrastructure and various other fruitful assets. He later informed that more than 400 data layers ar made available not only to inform the existing infrastructure but also to gain information about the forest land and various available industrial estate. The PM Gati Shakti thus plays a huge role in the improvement of infrastructural efficiency and through good coordination of various digital systems, it will create a Logistics Portal, helping in reducing the logistics cost. The united interaction of various departments will lead to answers to various unsolved matters and will eventually lead to the development of the nation. With the availability of various information on a single platform, it helps to get project alignment and various clearance of detailed project reports. Simultaneously, it also reduces the industry’s compliance burden, leading to its swift and steady run.