'Gati Shakti' a revolution in infra connectivity: PM Modi

New Delhi: The way JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, Mobile) trinity revolutionised the access of government facilities to the people, the PM Gati Shakti scheme will do the same in the field of infrastructure connectivity in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday.

Inaugurating the PM Gati Shakti-National Master Plan for multi-modal connectivity from the new exhibition complex at Pragati Maidan, Modi said this will create the foundation of India for the next 25 years. "This masterplan will give impetus to 21st century India," Modi said. The Gati Shakti scheme aims to institutionalize holistic planning for stakeholders for major infrastructure projects. Instead of planning and designing separately in silos, the projects will be designed and executed with a common vision and incorporate the infrastructure schemes of various ministries and state governments like Bharatmala, Sagarmala, inland waterways, dry/land ports, UDAN etc.

Economic zones like textile clusters, pharmaceutical clusters, defence corridors, electronic parks, industrial corridors, fishing clusters, agri zones will be covered to improve connectivity and make Indian businesses more competitive. It will also leverage technology extensively including spatial planning tools with ISRO imagery developed by BiSAG-N (Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geoinformatics).

The Prime Minister said that due to the wide gap between macro planning and micro implementation, problems of lack of coordination, lack of advance information, thinking and working in silos are leading to hampered construction and wastage of budget.

"PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan will address this as working on the basis of the master plan will lead to optimum utilisation of resources," he added. The PM lamented the fact that the subject of infrastructure has not been a priority for most political parties. "This is not even visible in their manifesto. Now the situation has come that some political parties have started criticising the construction of necessary infrastructure for the country. He elaborated upon the steps taken to increase the speed of infrastructure development in India. He said his government targets to complete 16,000 km of gas pipelines across the country in the next 5-6 years compared to 15,000 km pipelines built in 27 years till 2014.

What is Gati Shakti plan?

The Gati Shakti Master Plan seeks to better country's infrastructure by resolving past obstacles posed before developmental projects, such as a lack of coordination among departments.

The multimodal connectivity will foster 'integrated and seamless connectivity for movement of people, goods and services from one mode of transport to another.' "Instead of planning and designing separately in silos, the projects will be designed and executed with a common vision," says a PMO statement.

The plan will 'institutionalize holistic planning for stakeholders for major infrastructure projects', and incorporate the infrastructure schemes of various ministries and State governments like Bharatmala, Sagarmala, inland waterways, dry/land ports, UDAN scheme, etc.