NEW DELHI: It will soon be mandatory for all vehicles and machinery, deployed for government infrastructure projects by developers and contractors, to have GPS tags mounted on them as the government would soon be deploying a digitised satellite-based system to monitor the ongoing projects.
The system that has been developed integrating the Geographic Information System (GIS) is being optimised to keep a check on quality of materials used in construction, track materials and vehicles deployed at sites and eliminate thefts and corrupt practices. The system is currently being tested in Karnataka on a pilot basis and the decision to implement it, making GPS tags mandatory, is expected to be notified soon.
The system, primarily developed by the Ministry of Rural Development to plan and monitor development projects in rural India, is being fine-tuned to monitor all government infrastructure projects using GIS platform and GPS devices. The platform has multi-layered maps with details of on ground geographic data and physical assets spread over 3.287 million square km, covering every inch of India.
“With this application the government departments will be able to monitor the infra-projects on a real-time basis and even keep digital records on a timeline of all infrastructure development projects,” said Nagendra Nath Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development. The application which has been developed using the GIS data platform will be able to monitor projects real time, using GPS tags, and aimed at ensuring high-quality. sustainable and durable projects at optimised cost, Sinha said.
“The applicaion which has been developed on a digitised platform integrating extensive Geospatial data and multi-layered maps, will also eliminate illegal practices which have led to inflated cost and poor quality of constructions in the past,” Sinha asserted.
He added that under the new information sharing policy of geospatial data, certain data developed on the GIS platform are now available on public platform so that it can be used by infrastructure developers to plan detailed project reports (DPRs) for future projects.
‘Check on quality of materials used’
The system, primarily developed by the Ministry of Rural Development to plan and monitor development projects in rural India, is being fine-tuned to monitor all government infrastructure projects using GIS platform and GPS devices. The platform has multi-layered maps with details of on ground geographic data and physical assets spread over 3.287 million square km, covering every inch of India.