NEW DELHI: With Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking ministries to prepare a 100-day plan for the new government, ministries are lining up several “people-friendly” initiatives.
Indian Railways, for instance, plans to roll out a 24-hour refund scheme for passengers cancelling their tickets, which currently takes at least three days, and also to launch a “super app” to enable passengers to avail of a bouquet of services, including ticketing and train tracking.
The housing ministry has proposed to launch the second phase of ‘urban livelihood mission’ focused on skill development and offering credit to poor through self-help groups. In addition, after months of discussion, it intends to roll out an interest subsidy scheme for housing loans for urban poor, which PM Modi had announced on Aug 15.
All the ministries and departments have finalised their plans and the cabinet secretary is reviewing them.
Details of the targets being set for the first three months of the new govt include several projects and schemes, which have been announced and have been in the pipeline for some time.
TOI has learnt that railways has set the target to launch PM Rail Yatri Bima Yojna, insurance scheme for passengers during the first 100 days and getting cabinet nod for three economic corridors with cumulative length of 40,900 km, which will require an investment of Rs 11 lakh crore. The railways also plans to operate trains from Jammu to Kashmir with the completion of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramula Rail Link project.
Officials said the Pamban railway bridge, India’s first vertical-lift bridge connecting the country’s mainland with Rameswaram, will also be operational. The train services between Mandapam in the mainland and Rameswaram were suspended in December 2022 after the existing rail bridge built in 1913 was declared non-operational from the safety point of view.
Sources said the railways’ focus will also be on introduction of sleeper versions of Vande Bharat trains and expediting the Bullet train project. However, as per the plan, around 320 km of the 508 km Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train stretch would be operational by April 2029.
On the road transport front, the highways ministry has planned to roll out a cashless scheme for road crash victims (free medical care) and fixing stretches that are more accident prone. The Union civil aviation ministry has also planned for inauguration of four airports during the first three months.
