The first review meeting in Nagaland on PM GatiShakti National Master Plan under chairpersonship of Special Secretary, Logistics Division, Department of Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT) was held at the Secretariat Hall, Civil Secretariat on 21st June 2023.
Commissioner & Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Kekhrievor Kevichusa welcomed all attendees and thanked Sumita Dawra, Special Secretary Logistics Division, DPIIT for accepting the invitation to come and conduct GatiShakti workshop cum interaction with the officials of the State. He thanked her for leading the One District One Product (ODOP) drive. He said that apart from interacting with the Department of Industries & Commerce, Dawra also took the time to interact with the Agriculture Department and Horticulture Department.
Kevichusa said that the State appreciated the efforts made by the Government of India to improve connectivity and logistics of the State. He hoped that the interaction will focus on areas where the State can improve and hopes that the meeting will help the departments in understanding how GatiShakti works and how the State of Nagaland in progressing.
Chief Secretary, J. Alam during the meeting said that the GatiShakti is a project which is very dear to the Prime Minister of India, and therefore it has been taken earnestly by the State of Nagaland. Alam said that some progress was made after the intervention of the government of India and that 22 Departments have provided layers and data till date which is a great achievement.
Alam said that PM GatiShakti is not only about developing layers of data for planning purposes but there are many other aspects to it and that lots of progress have been made like logistics policy, logistic infrastructure. He said that a number of projects have been sanctioned for the State of Nagaland and the projects are in good progress.
He mentioned that Nagaland is not an industrially advanced State, but the State is taking baby steps towards attracting investors. He said that there are numbers of home grown entrepreneurs, who have started their own businesses and that by giving them the right support and the right amount of guidance many of the entrepreneurs will grow faster.
He said that such a visit by the Ministry officials is an indicator of how much importance the GoI is giving to Nagaland. He thanked the Ministry for providing all the support to Nagaland.
The Chief Minister extended his gratitude to the Special Secretary, DPIIT, Sumita Dawra for taking the time out to come all the way to Nagaland and for spending her time with different sections of people.
Special Secretary, Logistics Division, DPIIT, Sumita Dawra, IAS during her interaction with the officials present in the meeting thanked the government for making it possible for her to participate in such a program. She said during interaction with farmers on 20th June 2023 with production organization an organic certification drive was taken up and 15 chili farmers were able to get certification for organic farming another 15 farmers were in process due of documentation.
Dawra said that the Nagaland government has requested to make the certification process easier for the farmers and she said assured that the Ministry will work on it as soon as possible. She also said with the certification the farmers will get easier access to markets in Europe. She said that some important points were raised by the officials of Agriculture and Horticulture Departments on 20th June 2023 regarding logistics support to production units which were located in far flung villages and that the distance contributes to the cost of the products.
Dawra said that to make it simpler, a prearrangement will be made at Dimapur Airport so that custom clearance will be made easier. Uraan scheme connectivity and the Kisan rail wagon can be attached to the railway services which will help in the movement of the products. She said that she has spoken with the respective Departments in the Ministry and hoped that it will improve in the logistics of the products.
She said that GatiShakti also maps warehouses and therefore suggested that the Government of Nagaland map the areas where there are high productions along the village, districts and National roads. If such roads can be mapped it will help in the connectivity and will help in the production of the products.
Dawra said that the Government of Nagaland should prioritize industrial areas and she is happy to see the uploading of data and said that data quality is equally important. She said that key officers should be sensitized and present GatiShakti approach to the Deputy Commissioners.
Presentation on PM GatiShakti National Master Plan and way forward was delivered by Dr. Jivisha Joshi, Deputy Secretary, DPIIT, GoI. Joshi gave the basic concept of PM GatiShakti and on how the government approach is for integrated and holistic planning, multimodal connectivity to various economic zones, improving logistics efficiency.
She said that PM GatiShakti is for revolutionizing the planning process by replacing subjective decision making with objective data based decisions, technology driven planning and faster and cost efficient implementation. She also said that it will expedite in land acquisition and clearance, minimizing the ecological impact.
Joshi also gave the examples of Tripura State, which has enhanced connectivity with economic nodes in the region due to improvement and widening of two lane roads; case study of alignment of Shilchar Jiribam Imphal pipeline in Manipur using NMP. She also said that 4G saturation projects aims to provide 4G coverage to the remaining approximately 30000 villages in the country. She said that the PM GatiShakti will also provide GAP identification tool to Aanganwadi for identification of land for construction of new Aanganwadi centres.
Commissioner and Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Kekhrievor Kevichusa who is also the State Nodal Officer of PM GatiShakti gave a presentation on the status of PM GatiShakti National Master Plan for the State of Nagaland Giving the status of Nagaland, he said that the Institutional Framework is that of creation of administrative structure, i.e., Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS), Network Planning Group (NPG) and Technical Support Unit (TSU) SET UP.
The Department had a capacity building program where the Nodal Officers of TSU were trained in using the SMP/NMP completed for three (3) Departments-Industries & Commerce, GIS Department and Science & Technology Department were trained on 14th & 15th Nov 2022 in Bisag-N, Ahmedabad. The 2nd Training was held on 27-28 April 2023 by Officials from Transport, Agriculture, Geology& Mining and PWD(R&B)
Kevichusa also stated that State workshop on PM GatiShakti Integrated Master Plan for integration of 28 essential data layers which was conducted by BISAG, MeitY, GoI 25th -26th July 2022 at Kohima wherein 10 departments attended the workshop.
He also said that a Draft Policy formulated and meeting with Stakeholders was held Updating the officials present in the meeting Kevichusa said that 1 (One) EGoS meeting headed by the Chief Secretary, 1 (One) NPG, 1 (One) TSU Meeting and 2 (two) Meetings for Street Furniture’s were held. He also informed that out of 30 departments 22 Departments have submitted the layers, 4 yet to submit and 4 were not applicable. He also informed the officials that under Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment, for the Financial Year 2022-23 Project Approved under part II of Scheme PM GatiShakti related expenditure.
He said that the State of Nagaland submitted five (5) projects to DPIIT worth Rs.35.00 Cr during the 8th Screening Committee meeting on Annual Action Plan held on 30.09.2022. Five (5) Projects were approved by Screening Committee of DPIIT under SASCI scheme (PM Gati Shakti related Expenditure PART-II). An amount of Rs. 28.45 Cr. was sanctioned by the DoE, Ministry of Finance and they are currently under implementation. He said the following projects and sector/type were approved under the scheme: Development of nodes- Three (3) Modern Aggregation Centre at Longnak, Changtongya & Pfutsero and One (1) Warehouse cum Distribution Centre at Meluri and Setting up of Gati Shakti Data Centre at Kohima
Speaking on the way forward of the PM GatiShakti, Kevichusa said that App/Tool Development: Bisag-N will develop customized (Free of cost) mobile apps for Uploading geolocations and attributes of data layers as per the requirement of GoN. Departments such as: Street Furniture (Electric Poles, Traffic Light Poles, Bus Shelter/Terminals, Smart Poles, Government Buildings), Water Supply Pipelines, Land Records. Integration of Additional Layers on PM Gati Shakti NMP. SMP to be used for Decision making and Planning Area-Development Approach, Setting up Logistics Infra – Multimodal Logistic Park, Dry Ports, Modern Aggregation Centres, Warehousing and Distribution Centres for Dual Purpose (Military & Civil), Last Mile Connectivity to all the Existing Industrial Infrastructures, Area-Development Approach around Trans Nagaland Highway (FootHill Road Length – 320.25 Km), and Development of Logistic zones, Industrial zones, Tourism Centres at Exit- entry Points: • Jalukie – Peren• Vidima – Chumoukedima• Old Showba – Niuland • Merapani – Wokha• Tzudikong (Tuli Papermill Area) – Mokokchung • Tizit – Mon
GatiShakti is a National Master Plan launched by the Indian government in October 2021. The plan aims to streamline critical infrastructure projects, including roads, railways, ports, airports, and telecom, and reduce logistics costs.
(I. Tiakumla Ao, IA)
