Prime Minister’s flagship platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation, PRAGATI, has marked a significant milestone with the successful conduct of its 50th meeting.
Since its launch by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015, PRAGATI has transformed governance by enabling real-time monitoring and resolution of key infrastructure projects and public grievances through direct Prime Ministerial review.
The platform exemplifies cooperative federalism, bringing together the Centre, States, and Union Ministries on a single digital interface. Over a decade, PRAGATI has helped accelerate decision-making, resolution of issues causing delay in key infrastructure projects, and instilled a strong culture of accountability. Today, in this special series, we take a look at the Jaipur-Sikar-Churu Gauge Conversion Project.
The Jaipur-Sikar-Churu Gauge Conversion Project is a major rail infrastructure initiative in Rajasthan, implemented by North Western Railway under the administrative oversight of the Ministry of Railways. The project entails conversion of the existing metre-gauge alignment to broad gauge over a total length of approximately 320 kilometres at a total project cost of 1,222 crore rupees.
Following phased execution, the gauge-converted sections were commissioned on 25th April 2019, integrating this corridor into the national broad-gauge network. The project was reviewed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi under PRAGATI on 28th September 2016. During the review, Prime Minister Modi took note of the fact that progress was being impeded primarily due to land disputes and forest-related objections.
Prime Minister directed the Ministry of Railways andthe Rajasthan government, in consultation with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, to expeditiously resolve the land and forest issues. He further directed that working permission be issued within a defined time frame, land required for the project be acquired immediately, and that similar cases involving forest issues be escalated to the Cabinet Secretary for systemic resolution.
As a result of the PRAGATI-led intervention and sustained inter-ministerial coordination, procedural ambiguities were resolved, objections of the State Forest Department were addressed, and working permissions were effectively enabled. By December 2016, the Ministry of Railways confirmed that construction was progressing smoothly and that no issues remained with the State Forest Department.
The resolution of this long-pending forest and land dispute enabled uninterrupted continuation of gauge conversion works. It directly contributed to the successful commissioning of the Jaipur-Sikar-Churu broad-gauge section in April 2019.
