Chairing a high-level meeting on infrastructure sectors, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed on the need for government departments to work towards initialising spending of the budget in a focused manner right from the start of the financial year. Besides a broad overview of the infrastructure scenario in the country, the meeting focused on the specific sectors of rural infrastructure, power, coal, renewable energy and petroleum and natural gas. [related-post] Modi reviewed the status of stalled projects in the infrastructure sector. He was apprised of the steps being taken to enhance infrastructure creation in accordance with his vision for the 75th year of India's independence, the PMO said. After being given a detailed overview of the plans of various ministries for completion of pending projects within the current financial year, the Prime Minister asked for specific data to be collected and presented on priority areas such as toilets, affordable housing and smart cities. He said that in the urban areas, one of the priorities should be in creation of waste to wealth, and efficient systems for waste water disposal and solid waste management in 500 cities. Reviewing rural infrastructure, Modi directed that the highest priority be accorded to the work envisaged under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana. He said irrigation potential of all reservoir projects should be realized to the extent possible. In the power sector, Modi reiterated his emphasis on electrification of the unconnected villages at the earliest. A roadmap on this was presented to him.
