PM to meet new groups in January to seek feedback

The sub-groups formed at Thursday’s meeting of the top secretaries with Prime Minister Narendra Modi will focus on Swachchh Bharat, Ganga rejuvenation, energy conservation, innovative budgeting, good governance, employment generation, education and health, and farmer-centric initiatives. The secretaries of different ministries have been made heads of these sub-groups.

The sources further said Mr Modi will meet these groups on January 12, 15 and 16, to seek their feedback on ways to transform governance.

In a 70-minute long meeting, he appreciated the work done by various ministries over the past 18 months and sought the collective wisdom of all the top bureaucrats to suggest a new thought process which would help improve the governance model at the Centre, the sources added.

He also sought greater inclusion of the common man in the governance process and asked officials to keep this in mind while formulating ideas on good governance.

Several top ministers were also present at the meeting, such as Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Nitin Gadkari, besides senior PMO officials.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Mr Modi voiced dissatisfaction over the delayed Hyderabad metro rail project, which is expected to be completed only by July 2017. Sources said the PM was visibly upset over the consistent delay in the prestigious project, that the PMO is directly supervising.

He is said to have made it quite clear to all officials at the meeting that the project should be completed “at the earliest” and using best-quality work. The project is being implemented by L&T Metro Rail and is estimated to be worth Rs 16,400 crores. It consists three corridors of 72 km, but has faced several cost overruns and delays.

Mr Modi also reviewed the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport and Rih-Tedim road project in Myanmar.