NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday ticked off the environment and forest ministry (MoEFCC) for poor progress made in the elimination of single-use plastic while observing that the ministry has not pursued the cause seriously in the past two years. He also asked the railways to fix the responsibility of people for delay in the execution of railway projects, sources said.
While chairing the monthly review of key projects and programmes on the PRAGATI platform, Modi asked the MoEFCC to involve NCC, NSS and other youth organisations to create more awareness about eliminating single-use plastic.
“The PM said if enough steps had been taken in the past two years, the situation would have been different after he went through a presentation highlighting which all states have notified norms banning such items and the timeline to achieve the goal,” said an official.
India had, on the occasion of World Environment day in 2018, had voluntarily pledged to eliminate single-use plastics by 2022 — coinciding with 75 years of independence. Modi had said this could be achieved through people’s participation through awareness and behavioural change.
TOI has learnt that the government is likely to come out with the final draft on the definition of “single-use plastic” and the exact timeline to eliminate these hazardous materials in the next few days.
A source said the PM sarcastically made an observation saying that the MoEFCC was good at stopping something from happening, which was a message for all departments.
A total of 10 agenda items were taken up for review including eight projects, grievances relating to PM Gram Sadak Yojna and the elimination of single-use plastic. The eight projects reviewed were of a cumulative cost of about Rs 44,545 crore.
“The PM expressed his concerns in delays being observed in execution of some of the projects, and directed the officials concerned that all pending issues should be resolved in a time-bound manner, and wherever possible, in a Mission Mode,” the PMO said in an official release.
Sources said while reviewing two rail projects PM asked the ministry to identify the officers responsible for the delays and make them accountable.
Even during the last PRAGAT meeting in January, the PM had asked the Central and state government departments to assign and fix responsibilities of all agencies and officers for works while expressing concern over the delay in completion of infrastructure projects since these cause “national loss”, which TOI had first reported on January 29.