Centre holds review meet on PM GatiShakti adoption in States, UTs

In a bid to promote wider adoption of PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (NMP), Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry held a review meetings with States and Union Territories on August 31 to monitor and extend support for efficient and effective utilization of their State Master plan (SMP) portals for infrastructure planning and implementation.

The review meeting that was chaired by the Special Secretary in the DPIIT Sumita Dawra was held for the Western and Central Zones States/UTs of India. Representatives from several states and union territories including, Maharashtra, Goa, Rajasthan, Daman & Diu and Dadar & Nagar Haveli, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh attended the meeting.

Special Secretary (Logistics) during the meeting stressed the importance of utilising the GatiShakti NMP/SMP portal and adopting a 'whole of government' approach for infrastructure and social sector planning. During the conference, the chai outlined various benefits of PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (NMP) by leveraging data layers and tools for effective, data-driven decision-making, which includes: Optimized route planning, enhanced visibility of intersections from forest, economic zones, archaeological sites etc and enabling time and cost saving for planning and implementation of infrastructure projects, such as, use of digital surveys on NMP to streamline the preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPR) with higher accuracy.

"States/UTs are extensively using the PM GatiShakti approach for planning connectivity to Industrial Regions; for selecting the location of social infrastructure assets, such as anganwadis, schools, hospitals, etc," said Sumita Dawra according to a PIB release.

"States/UTs are integrating their existing development programmes/schemes with the GIS-based NMP/SMP to achieve better planning. For instance, the State of UP, integrated its Pahunch portal with the SMP, for effective decision-making about the site suitability of new schools, based on various parameters like population, connectivity, teacher-pupil ratio, etc. Similarly, the Gujarat Government used the PMGS for planning its coastal corridor to promote tourism. State of Goa planned the disaster management/ evacuation route during floods to minimize loss of life, using the PMGS NMP/SMP portals," she mentioned.

During the meeting it was emphasised that the States/UTs must look after certain parameters for wider adoption of PM GatiShakti NMP, which includes, regular meetings/workings of institutional mechanisms at States/UTs level; ensuring the quality of data layers on NMP/SMP portal; usage of SMP for project planning and implementation to facilitate Ease of Logistics, Ease of Living, and Ease of Doing Business.

Also, the States/UTs were encouraged to formulate State Logistics Policies (SLPs) aligned with National logistics policy (NLP) to bring a holistic focus on 'logistics' in public policy at the State level. So far, 22 States have notified their State Logistics policies.

The States/UTs were sensitized about the advantages of utilizing PM GatiShakti NMP/SMP at the district level for planning purposes. To enable area-based development, it is essential to adopt PM GatiShakti principles for gap identification, project planning, etc. at the grassroots level. The approach can streamline several challenges, such as land acquisition, approvals, utility shifting coordination, administrative assistance, and more, expediting and ensuring time-bound project implementation. States/UTs were recommended to identify pilot areas for implementation of planning and analysis through the PM GatiShakti NMP/SMP.