Approximately 103 proposals from the Indian Army have been co-opted under the PM Gati Shakti allowing dual use of identified resources like roads, railways, airfields and communication networks by the services as well as the government for economic transformation, seamless multimodal connectivity and logistics efficiency.
Of the 103 Army proposals integrated over the last year in the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP), 15 are jointly with Ministry of Railways, 47 with Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, 25 with Ministry of Civil Aviation, 14 with Ministry of Power, and one each with Department of Telecom and Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Army officials said.
Integrated capability
More than 100 border villages identified by Indian Army will be developed as part of the government’s Vibrant Villages Programme. Dual-use infrastructure to include approximately 543 border roads, 109 Military and Base Hospitals and four strategic railway lines, and they have been uploaded on the PM Gati Shakti NMP portal, informed Army officials. “This will facilitate the integration of Defence Logistics into the framework of National Logistics for its further leverage to enhance overall Logistics capability and efficiency to ensure the true spirit of ‘Whole of Nation’ approach,” observed Army sources.
The move, stated the Army, is expected to directly help in bringing sweeping changes in the operational logistics philosophy of the armed forces. To optimize the infrastructure requirements of the three services, a Tri-Services Infra Portal, similar to PM Gati Shakti, is being developed under the Integrated Defence Staff Headquarters, they stated. To ensure wider proliferation and utilisation of PM Gati Shakti NMP for integrated planning of dual-use infrastructure, 366 officers have been trained in Gati Shakti NMP on government’s online learning ‘iGOT Karmayogi Platform’.
National footprint
Gati Shakti is being included as a subject in the various military courses of instruction as the Army is of the view that the national ‘footprint’ of logistics thus evolved will ensure a seamless and fully networked National Logistics grid, will expedite clearances, increase the availability of fourth party logistics, ensure faster move, multimodality and reduce the overall cost and ensure logistics efficiency, officials elaborated.