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The government is considering ways to give the private sector access to non-sensitive data on the Gati Shakti platform, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said at a Business Standard event late on Monday. In a fireside chat at ‘Gati-Shakti Connect’, organised by the newspaper, Goyal pointed out that there would be checks and balances while letting the private sector use the platform.
Stating that the demand from the private sector to use Gati Shakti is overwhelming, Goyal elaborated on the matter at a well-attended event in New Delhi. “The data is sensitive. Right now we are using and testing it for government projects. The test results are so fabulous that we have to think of segregating the sensitive data so that the private sector can enjoy the fruits of the rest of the data,’’ the minister explained. He added that for the sensitive data, they (the private sector players) can share their plans and the government can assist them in using that data in a sanitised atmosphere. “But we can’t open it up to the public or give it in a laptop or a pen drive,” he said.
Responding to a question on what could be among the risks related to the Gati Shakti platform, Goyal said: “If this data is leaked out by somebody, and it goes into the hands of wrong elements, it can be misused. That’s why we have strong firewalls, cyber audits. Everyday, we are checking to make sure there’s no corruption in the data, there’s no cyber attack and that data is updated correctly…. You have to take care of those things.’’
During the engrossing fireside chat that lasted over an hour, Goyal said Gati Shakti had resulted in the fastest possible implementation time for infrastructure projects. Both time and cost overrun had reduced, he told the audience in a packed hall.
“In the last two years, we have been able to plan projects worth Rs 12 trillion through Gati Shakti. All the seven PM Mitra parks that we approved, went through a rigorous Gati Shakti process. Gujarat has gone one step further. As soon as the project runs through Gati Shakti and the routes are frozen and finalised, within 24 hours land ownership is also mapped and takes out land acquisition notices,” Goyal said.
Asked how Gati Shakti has helped in breaking ministerial silos and establishing cooperative federalism with states, Goyal said all states and union territories, irrespective of their political affiliation, had signed on to it and were using the platform. “Some may be slightly slow, some are more aggressive like Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. Some of them are on board because of public pressure of delayed projects.”
Goyal said the concept of Gati Shakti was first articulated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, nearly 15 years ago in 2008, when he was the Gujarat chief minister. “The Prime Minister’s vision (when he announced the Gati Shakti Plan on August 15, 2021) was that a large country the size of India, with scarce resources at its command, should get the highest bang for every buck of public money we spend. The PM Gati Shakti Plan comes out of his vision to make India a developed nation and his mission to make India corruption free,” Goyal pointed out.
On how Gati Shakti would ensure that the finance mechanism for implementing a project is as smooth as the process of implementing it, Goyal replied that it’s a whole of the government approach and finance is equally an integral part of the Gati Shakti planning process. “As a railway or highway project is being planned, simultaneously, it helps you to give the cost estimates. Now your cost estimates are better because you know you will not have unforeseen circumstances coming along the way. So finance can plan its resources better and therefore you know how many projects to take forward. You won’t be stuck for finance half way through the project,” Goyal added.
Prior to the fireside chat with Goyal, the Business Standard event on Monday saw coming together of infrastructure sector leaders and policymakers for two panel discussions on Gati Shakti. Two bureaucrats associated with Gati Shakti—Special Secretary (Logistics) at the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Sumita Dawra and Secretary in the Coal Ministry Amrit Lal Meena—set the tone for the evening by talking about the nuances of policy-making, the promises and the challenges during the first panel discussion suitably called ‘From the Prism of Policy Makers’ . In the second panel discussion—Hopes and Aspirations of Infra Players—public and private sector companies had a free-flowing conversation on what Gati Shakti means to businesses and the way forward. The participants in the second panel included heavyweights in the infrastructure sector such as Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India managing director RK Jain, Bharti Enterprises vice-chairman Akhil Gupta, EY Partner (Lead Advisory) Srishti Ahuja and GMR Group CEO (Cargo & Logistics) Sanjiv Edward.
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