The Railway Board has announced the creation of a new ‘Gati Shakti Directorate’, which will combine various functions under various functions to “build additional railway infrastructure, bring synergy and efficiency in the system, increase market share in cargo handling and logistics”. reduce costs”.
RB joint secretary B. An official order issued by Majumdar a few days back to senior officers across the country states that the new directorate will work with the existing functions, signal directorate etc. and report directly to the member of RB. -basic infrastructure.
The new Directorate will be headed by an additional member of the RB as the Principal Executive Director to coordinate with the RB, interface with other Ministries and others. The six other members will be executive directors of the traffic, signal and telecommunication, civil, power and finance wings.
The other two members will be an economic adviser overseeing all projects and another official to deal with security issues. The Directorate will be involved in appraisal and approval of projects, preparation of cost estimates, approval and scrutiny of surveys, etc. in respect of new lines, gauge conversion, doubling and other traffic facilities.
The new directorate will be empowered to prepare cabinet notes for approval of projects requiring approval from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). The Directorate should audit various projects and give reasons for taking corrective steps in case of delay in implementation. It will have to monitor the ongoing projects and liaise with the respective state governments for forest clearance, wildlife clearance, land acquisition, power supply etc.
The new Directorate has also been given financial powers to take up projects costing ₹100 crore to ₹500 crore to obtain approval from the RB and the Ministry. For projects above ₹1,000 crore, NITI Aayog would also have to be involved and anything above ₹1,000 crore would also require approval from the CCEA. Preparation of detailed project reports has also been made mandatory for any new project costing more than Rs 50 crore.
The official circular said that for now the officers identified for the new directorate will continue to work together from their respective departments till the new system is stabilized.