The Prime Minister,Narendra Modi, today chaired his fourth interaction through PRAGATI - the ICT-based, multi-modal platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation. In course of his review today, the Prime Minister expressed concern at the grievances relating to delivery of passports. He directed the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs, to hold a joint workshop to examine ways and means to reduce time in various clearances, to enable quicker processing of passport services. The Prime Minister reviewed the progress of key infrastructure projects worth over Rs. 60,000 crore in the Railway, Road, Power, Coal, Petroleum, and Renewable Energy sectors, spread over several states including Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
The Prime Minister focused especially on vital road and rail links in the state of Odisha, in view of the upcoming Nabakalebara festival there. Noting that similar major festivals were also coming up in the near future in the states of Madhya Pradesh (Simhastha, Ujjain) and Maharashtra (Kumbh, Nasik), the Prime Minister urged sharing of best practices, especially in the areas of sanitation, security and transportation. Expressing dismay at the delay in vital infrastructure projects due to repeated litigation, the Prime Minister asked concerned departments to proactively pursue these matters judicially, and highlight the difficulties faced by the people due to the non-completion of these projects. The Prime Minister complimented several states for the efforts that they were putting in, to speed up infrastructure projects.