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New Delhi : Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is organising a conference on PM-Gati Shakti for the South Zone on January 17, 2022, to deliberate on its action plans and projects.

The event, to be organized in virtual mode, will be inaugurated by Union RTH Minister Nitin Gadkari and will be addressed by Karnataka Chief Minister B S Bommai, Puducherry Lt. Governor Dr. (Smt.) Tamilisai Soundararajan, Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy, MoS (RTH and Civil Aviation) General (Dr.) V K Singh, Ministers from various State Governments/UTs, Secretary RTH Giridhar Aramane, Special Secretary DPIIT Amrit Lal Meena, and officials from various Infrastructure Ministries of Govt. of India and State Governments.

The participating State/UTs at the event are Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Maharashtra, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana. The day-long event will witness panel discussions on various aspects of the programme, involving Central and State officials and stakeholders.

States have a crucial role in making PM-Gati Shakti programme a success. The conference aims to achieve a roadmap for the State Master Plan along with creation of PM-Gati Shakti institutional framework at State level in order to have proper planning, management and scheduling of projects of all the infrastructure Ministries in coordination with the State Governments, which in turn will result in efficient implementation and time-bound project completion, according to a PIB release.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the “PM-Gati Shakti – National Master Plan (NMP)” for multi-modal connectivity at a function in New Delhi on October 13, 2021. Subsequently, on October 21, 2021, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved PM-Gati Shakti National Master Plan including institutional framework for rolling out, implementation, monitoring, and support mechanism for providing multi-modal connectivity. The institutional framework for implementation includes Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGOS), Network Planning Group (NPG), and Technical Support Unit (TSU) with required technical competencies.

The PM-Gati Shakti NMP is intended to break Departmental Silos and bring in more holistic and integrated planning and execution of projects with a view to addressing the issues of multi-modal connectivity and last mile connectivity. This will help in bringing down the logistics cost and translate into enormous economic gains to consumers, farmers, youth as well as those engaged in businesses.