Development Projects Quarterly target set

To push development works, quarterly targets have been fixed for the first time for various ministries and projects would be monitored at three levels, including the Prime Minister’s Office, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Sunday.

“For the first time, we have set quarterly targets for all the ministries involved in development projects and the reports will be monitored and discussed at three levels, including the PMO,” he said.

Targets have been fixed, especially in the areas of transport, energy and infrastructure, he added.

“Three would be three phases to monitor the progress of development projects — at the Planning Commission, the ministry level and overall monitoring will be done in the PMO,” Mr. Ahluwalia, who is on a private visit to the city, told reporters.

He said infra development projects are delayed due to of unavailability of clearance from various ministries.

He also asserted that several effective steps are being taken to improve the economy which is in “some difficulties”.

If there is a problem or a bottleneck, the PMO will ask the concerned secretaries to resolve the issue, he said.

In reply to a question, Mr. Ahluwalia said 5.3 per cent economic growth in the last quarter of the previous fiscal is bad. A further fall in this figure would be worse, he added.

He said the GDP figure of 9 per cent was not realistic. “We can go back to 6.5 per cent GDP soon.”

On price rise, Mr. Ahluwalia said international oil and commodity prices will not be a pressure on inflation.

During the last 10 years, the average rate of inflation was 6 per cent and whenever it went above that, it did cause concerns and problems for the people, he said.

When asked about the withdrawal of subsidy on the diesel he said, “At some point some fuel price adjustment has to be made. We need to get investment back.”

On the power generation front, he said finally Coal India Ltd had signed MoUs with the private sector to make sure that the supply of coal remains uninterrupted to the thermal plants.

He said, “If you have no coal, import that. Imported coal is more expensive but the difficulty has to be tackled through price pooling and other means.”

PTI