Bengal agrees to set up state-level project monitoring group

West Bengal facing implementation hurdles for investment projects has agreed to set up its own state-level monitoring group for those below Rs 1,000 crore.
"I met the chief secretary of West Bengal and he agreed to set up a project monitoring group to monitor and expedite the projects," Project Monitoring Group Chairman and Additional Secretary Anil Swarup said here today.
"We have said they can replicate the model of the Centre with their own monitoring group. We will offer a sophisticated version of the software which we use for monitoring," he said.
He found land was one of the major issues for the projects which were discussed by the PMG.

West Bengal will be the ninth state to set up such a state level group to monitor pending projects below Rs 1,000 crore.
So far Andhra Pradesh, Maharastra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Bihar, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand have PMGs.

The PMG was set up at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's initiative for fast-tracking of pending projects.
Meanwhile, Swarup said he reviewed 8-10 projects valued at over Rs 1,000 crore with senior officials of the state government.
"Land and land related issues are the basic and major issues. Three are roads, two railway lines, one petro-product pipeline and one transmission line," he said.