Giving clear indications that key infrastructure sectors are under his radar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday undertook a meeting of top bureaucrats heading important ministries namely - Power, Road Transport, Shipping, Civil Aviation, Coal, Petroleum, Railways, Telecom and Renewable Energy - and is learnt to have reviewed targets set by them for the current fiscal.
The meeting, according to sources, was a follow up to individual discussions which Modi had held with Secretaries of all key ministries last month. At that time, he had met them in batches and discussed their respective targets and important projects, while assessing their performance in 2013-14. Saturday's meeting was aimed at giving greater impetus towards achieving healthy economic growth (more than the sub-par 5 per cent prevailing growth level), and for this to happen, performances of the aforementioned sectors needs to be improved.
According to sources, Planning Commission Secretary Sindhushree Khullar made a 15-page presentation on the performance of core infrastructure ministries in 2013-14 and deliberated on the targets suggested by the ministries for the current fiscal. The much debated power scenario and poor supply of coal to thermal plants was discussed prominently in the meeting. Sources said that matters related to transmission and distribution of electricity along with fuel scarcity being faced by the power sector also came up for discussion in the meeting.
They added that existing plans earmarked by the Planning Commission for various ministries were also deliberated upon. These included a proposed of laying down 300 km new railway track during the current fiscal. Indian railways had laid 450 km of new rail tracks in 2013-14, which fell short of the targeted 500 km.
Similarly, the Plan panel had set a target of 700 km for doubling of rail tracks in the current fiscal against 900 km targeted in 2013-14. Indian railways achieved doubling of around 700 km of rail track in previous fiscal.For the civil aviation sector, the Commission has proposed to lower the investment target from Rs 1,008 crore in previous fiscal to Rs 934 crore in the current fiscal. The investment realisation was about 55 per cent of the target in 2013-14.
The plan to develop airports in non-metro cities was also discussed at the meeting.Problems being faced by road and transport ministries were also deliberated upon.As many as 189 highway projects involving a cost of Rs 1,80,000 crore are stuck due to problems of land acquisition, delays in forest and environment clearances, non-transfer of defence land and hurdles in rail over bridges, among other things.
The means and ways of connecting all 2.5 lakh panchayats in the country with broadband services by March 2017 also came up for discussions. Secretaries of Rural Development and Environment & Forest ministries were also present in the meeting, sources said.