Prime Minister Modi Asks For Dossiers On Delayed Projects To Fix Responsibility

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed the Cabinet Secretary to prepare "dossiers" of delayed projects within one week and identify the officers and agencies responsible for the delays.

According to sources, PM Modi has issued the direction for fixing responsibility while chairing the monthly review of infrastructure projects and the government's flagship programmes on Wednesday.

On earlier occasions, Modi had asked the government departments to fix the responsibility for delays in project execution which not only results in time overrun but also cost escalation.

Sources said PM set the one week timeline for preparing the dossiers after reviewing two railway projects - a new railway line connecting Bhanupuli, Bilaspur and Bari and the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) - at the 37th edition of PRAGATI, the ICT based platform for timely implementation of projects.

The work on the new railway line had started in 2008 with an estimated cost of around Rs 2,000 cr. Earlier, the project came up for review in 2016. Now its cost has increased to around Rs 6,000 cr. Similarly, the government’s flagship project of Western DFC has been delayed.

“The message was for every Central and state government department that now they will be held responsible for delays. The PM emphasised on the dossiers twice,” it is reliably learnt.

A release issued by the PMO said, “The Prime Minister stressed on the significance of timely completion of these projects.” It said the eight projects, which were reviewed, have a cumulative cost of Rs 1.26 lakh cr concerning 14 states. While reviewing the second phase of Urban Extension Road (UER-II) in Delhi, which is coming up as the third Ring Road, Modi set August 15, 2023 as deadline for completion of the project. The 75.71 km NH project will make the travel seamless from Dwarka to Delhi-Chandigarh highway.

Last week, the Delhi government had approved transplantation and felling of trees for the project. The NHAI has awarded all five packages of the project and the work is likely to start by September end.