PM Modi reviews progress of 8 projects worth around Rs 31,000 crore

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired a PRAGATI meeting to review the progress of eight key projects, spread across seven states and having a cumulative worth of around Rs 31,000 crore, his office said in a statement.

PRAGATI is the multi-modal platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation of the projects involving the Centre and states. It was the 43rd edition of the meeting.

Among the projects, four were concerned with water supply and irrigation, two related to expanding national highways and connectivity, and two more related to rail and metro rail connectivity.

"These projects have a cumulative cost of around Rs 31,000 crore and relate to 7 states: Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, Odisha, West Bengal, Gujarat and Maharashtra," it said.

The prime minister emphasised that PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan Portal in conjunction with technologies such as satellite imagery can help address various issues of implementation and planning relating to location and land requirements for projects.

He said all the stakeholders executing projects in high population-density urban areas may appoint nodal officers and form teams for better coordination.

For irrigation projects, he advised that visits of stakeholders be organised where successful rehabilitation and reconstruction work has been done, the statement said.

The transformational impact of such projects may also be shown. This may motivate the stakeholders for the early execution of projects, it added.

During the interaction, he also reviewed 'Mobile Towers and 4G Coverage under USOF Projects'.

Under the Universal service obligation fund (USOF), 33,573 villages with 24,149 mobile towers are to be covered for saturation of mobile connectivity.

Modi asked officials to ensure setting up of mobile towers in all uncovered villages within this financial year with regular meetings with all stakeholders. This will ensure saturation of mobile coverage in the remotest of the areas.

Up to the 43rd edition of PRAGATI meetings, 348 projects having a total cost of Rs 17.36 lakh crore have been reviewed, the statement said.