20th Meeting of the Network Planning Group (NPG) Held on 8 June

The Network Planning Group (NPG) held its 20th session on June 8, 2022 at Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi. It was chaired by the Special Secretary of the Logistics Division, DPIIT Shri Amrit Lal Meena and saw active participation from member ministries/departments including MoPNG, MoRTH, MoCA, MoR, MoPSW, MoP, MNRE, DoT, MoEF&CC and Niti Ayog. The forum saw senior officials from these ministries deliberate on various agendas on logistic capacities and PM GatiShakti.

Announced on October 13, 2022, the PM GatiShakti is a transformative approach towards accelerating multimodal infrastructure planning and implementation. Along with the digitalised National Master Plan, it features an institutional framework that synchronises and integrates infrastructure planning and implementation.

● The Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS), under the Chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary, is responsible for monitoring and implementing the National Master Plan. The

● NPG is tasked with assessing and examining various infrastructure proposals on a national level.

● The Logistics Division along with the Technical Support Unit was made as the Secretariat body to the Structure to facilitate smooth and effective coordination.

Applauding the recently launched GatiShakti Sanchar portal of the Department of Telecommunications, the Chairperson highlighted that all 36 States and UTs have been integrated into the portal. The Department of Telecommunications will soon be convening a meeting with all NPG members to further accelerate the process of integrating the portal into the National Master Plan.

As an approach towards multimodal infrastructure, the Ministry of Railways will soon be creating 100 cargo terminals that have easier connectivity with roads and ports. The senior official from the Ministry shared that various details identification, timelines and mapping are already underway and will soon be shared across with all other member ministries/departments for in-depth coordination.

The Special Secretary also highlighted the role that the National Master Plan portal plays in integrating inter-ministerial planning and coordination. The digital portal with 600+ GIS layers and real-time mapping functions have been crucial in PM GatiShakti’s transformative approach. NPG members were requested to maintain period engagement with the BISAG-N and regular project updates in the portal. Members were also advised to regularise planning and project mapping through the portal.