Guwahati: Union shipping, ports & waterways and AYUSH minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who is the immediate past chief minister of Assam, pitches for PM Gati Shakti Master Plan which is expected to bring coordination among 16 ministries and departments for apt planning and smooth execution of the infrastructure projects.
Addressing the media at Dibrugarh on Saturday, Sonowal elaborated that the initiative will comprise all the major central government ministries like railways, roads & highways, petroleum & gas, power, telecom, shipping and aviation, which is going to give impetus to 21st century Bharat.
It may be mentioned that on the auspicious day of Mahashtami, the day of worshipping Shakti, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a massive rupees 100 trillion infrastructure initiative which is dubbed as the country's roadmap for next 25 years.
“There has always been a gap between macro planning and micro execution. Due to bureaucratic entanglements and inter-ministerial silos, the work used to get held up costing the exchequer huge cost. In order to address this problem, the plan envisions a digital portal with all existing and planned infrastructure projects of the ministries and departments included in the project,” said Sonowal.
He also added that the initiative further aims to create multimodal connectivity which would reduce cost. With holistic planning and execution, there is going to be swift execution and savings on time and money. With the transparency of progress, it will be now easier to prioritise projects through cross sectoral interactions, stated the saffron leader.
The Centre also expects that this initiative will bring in huge benefits to State governments as they will be able to figure out time-frames for a particular infrastructure project and accordingly pitch for investor interest by giving a reasonable period of commitment. The project aims to bring down logistical cost by developing last mile connectivity as well as optimally using all the economic zones and industrial parks through the development of multi
modal connectivity.
Assam sets for bye-elections: A total of 31 candidates are in fray for the upcoming bye-election to five State legislative assembly constituencies scheduled for 30 October. Altogether 39 nominations were found valid where eight candidates have withdrawn their nominations.
Gossaigaon seat will witness electoral battles of Jowel Tudu (Indian National Congress), Jiron Basumatary (United People’s Party Liberal), Dhruba Kumar Brahma Narzary (Bodoland People’s Front), Khairul Anam Khandakar (All India United Democratic Front) with a few independent candidates.
Phanidhar Talukdar (Bharatiya Janata Party), Sailendra Nath Das (INC), Jubbar Ali (AIUDF) with others will fight for Bhabanipur constituency, where as Bhaskar Dahal (INC), Brajendra Nath Deka (Gana Suraksha Party), Jolen Daimary (UPPL) with a few others are in the fray for Tamulpur seat.
Rupjyoti Kurmi (BJP), Luhit Konwar (INC), Gopal Chandra Ghatowar (Asom Sangrami Mancha), etc will fight for Mariani seat and Thowra constituency will witness electoral battles among Sushanta Borgohain (BJP), Monuranjan Konwar (INC), Krishna Gogoi (Communist Party of India) with a few independent candidates including Dhaijya Konwar from Raijor Dal.
