NEW DELHI: Unhappy with large number of corruption related complaints in railways, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed Ministry of Railways for strictest possible action against railway officials found guilty of corruption and to take measures to curtail corrupt practices.
The direction came as prime minister reviewed the vital infrastructure projects related to railway, road, aviation, rural development and power sectors spread in several states. He also called for a consolidated approach to existing projects, and working towards their completion within strict timelines.
“Noting that a large number of complaints were related to corrupt practices of officials, he directed strictest possible action against Railway officials found guilty of corruption. He asked the Indian Railways to work towards a unified single telephone number for all grievances and queries,” said a senior government official.
According to a recently released Central Vigilance Commission report, railway has the highest over 11,000 corruption related complaints against its employees. In 2016, the corruption related complaints saw a jump of 67 percent over 2015.
Among the projects reviewed in details include Mumbai Metro, Tirupati-Chennai Highway, long-pending road projects in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Manipur, and important power transmission lines in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East.
The Prime Minister directed efficient and stringent monitoring of rural roads construction and their quality by using space technology. He also emphasized on the use of new technologies in road construction and asked NITI Aayog to examine global standards in the application of technology for infrastructure creation, and their feasibility in India.
In railways, the Prime Minister called for speeding up of work related to redevelopment of Railway Stations and greater creativity in the generation of non-fare revenue to give a push to railways earnings.
Reviewing Mission Indradhanush for universal immunization of children, the Prime Minister asked for targeted attention in strict timeframes for the 100 worst performing districts in this regard.
Noting the decline in coal imports in the last year, he asked for even more vigorous efforts towards coal import substitution, and application of new coal technologies including gasification technology.
The Prime Minister urged all Secretaries of the Government of India, and all Chief Secretaries of States, to come up with concrete plans and objectives for transformative change, to be achieved by the 75th anniversary of independence in 2022. With regard to cleanliness, he urged for maximum efforts ahead of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary by 2019.