Plan panel not impressed by NHAI claims
Not impressed by the tall claims made by highways minister Kamal Nath of constructing 20 km of National Highway (NH) everyday, the Planning Commission on Monday hinted that the panel would be happy to see the country getting addition of barely 6 km on a daily basis.
Unveiling the targets for six infrastructure sectors for this financial year, which include roads, ports, civil aviation, power and railways, deputy chairman of Plan panel Montek Singh Ahluwalia mentioned that a target of 2,500 km of road in a year would be a good pace. This is in sharp contrast to Mr Nath’s assertion of building more than 7,000 km of roads annually.
“We want to give a major fillip to the infrastructure sector through these targets. This has never happened before. Targets will be monitored on quarterly basis and will be put on the commission’s website for all. If in our judgment there is a problem in a particular sector it will be referred to the Prime Minister,” Mr Ahluwalia said. Expecting to infuse accountability through display of their performance, the deputy chairman, however, ruled out any punitive measures, in case any sector underperforms saying “These targets have been fixed after consultation with the concerned ministries. By making these targets available our hope is that it is going to create right pressure.”
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