The Union Government aims to have 6-lane highways across India's coastline to speed up the movement of cargo and reduce logistics costs under the PM Gati Shakti initiative. Work is progressing on 107 road and railway projects across the country where shortcomings were identified during an extensive audit of 87 ports to ensure swift cargo movement.
Amrit Lal Meena, Special Secretary at DPIIT's Logistics Division told CNBC-TV18 that 125 railway projects have been identified where track capacities are being ramped up from single to double or double to triple based on the logistics demand in the area.
On September 15, CNBC-TV18 reported a DPIIT case study on the potential for capacity building in the Indian railways. DPIIT had said that the entire rail route from Punjab to Assam has a double rail line except for a 95 km single rail stretch between Gorakhpur and Valmiki Nagar, and the capacity will rise up to 15 rakes per day if that single rail stretch is converted into double.
As many as 700 such projects are being undertaken by the Railways, including the ones in mineral-rich areas for swifter transportation. Meena said that 229 projects under the Network Planning Group (NPG) have been examined till now, and four expressways are coming for NPG's examination on October 12.
The projects include an expressway from Kolkata port to Varanasi running parallel to the Grand Trunk Road, as well as an expressway from Pune to Bengaluru without disrupting mining areas located on the way.
Pointing to the 27 expressways planned to improve freight movement from ports, Meena said that the National Master Plan (NMP) for Gati Shakti will avoid unforeseen disruptions like misalignments, forests and mines located in the path of critical infrastructure projects.
He added that a separate directorate has been created for PM Gati Shakti with officers from various ministries working in the secretariat for better coordination between Centre and states, and a meeting is held every Thursday for coordination.
The need for ground surveys has been reduced as 1500 data layers have been integrated with NMP from various states, ministries and tourism sites with the help of laid down networks of Optical Fibre Cables (OFCs). With only 35 percent of the existing towers connected to OFCs, DoT has targeted over 65 percent of connections from OFCs by 2025.
Land details from 26 states have been uploaded on NMP for better planning of infrastructure projects and for just compensation in case the land is to be acquired. Land ownership details are password protected on the portal to ensure the privacy of the owners till the decision of land acquisition is made.
Private concessionaires and consultants attached to ministries can access details on the portal but are bound by a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Uploaded details have also found use in the social sector, as states are placing their anganwadi centres within the vicinity of habitations to ensure last-mile connectivity of benefits to the needy. Uttar Pradesh government's initiative "Pahunch" is also using the uploaded data to ensure the presence of high schools within 5 km of every eligible student.
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