Srinagar, July 20: In a major step towards strengthening governance and ensuring time-bound execution of infrastructure projects in Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo on Monday chaired a high-level meeting with senior officers of the Project Monitoring Group (PMG), Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Government of India, at New Delhi to deliberate upon the establishment of a Union Territory-level Project Monitoring Group (UT-PMG) on the lines of the Central PMG mechanism here.
The proposed JK-PMG aims to institutionalize a technology-driven project monitoring system for expediting implementation of major developmental projects across Jammu and Kashmir. The Central PMG is designed to facilitate milestone-based monitoring and resolution of regulatory bottlenecks in large infrastructure projects through coordinated engagement with Central Ministries and States.
The Chief Secretary observed that Jammu and Kashmir is presently witnessing an unprecedented pace of infrastructure development under various Central and UT-sponsored programmes, making it imperative to establish a robust institutional mechanism capable of continuously monitoring project progress and resolving implementation bottlenecks before they result in delays or cost overruns.
He stated that the proposed PMG would significantly enhance transparency, accountability and efficiency in project execution by providing senior functionaries with real-time information regarding project milestones, physical and financial progress, pending approvals, inter-departmental dependencies and issue resolution timelines.
Emphasizing the importance of technology-driven governance, the Chief Secretary said that the portal should evolve into a comprehensive decision-support system capable of generating analytical reports, monitoring key performance indicators and facilitating evidence-based policy interventions for timely completion of developmental projects.
He further stressed that regular review meetings at different administrative levels should be institutionalized through the portal. Under the proposed framework, departmental reviews would be held on a fortnightly basis, meetings under the Chief Secretary every month, while high-level reviews under the Chief Minister could be convened periodically to assess progress of strategically important projects and remove critical bottlenecks.
The Chief Secretary also directed that the proposed system should ensure seamless coordination among all stakeholders by integrating departments, district administrations and project implementing agencies on a common digital platform, thereby improving accountability and reducing procedural delays.
During the meeting, the PMG team made a comprehensive presentation on the architecture, operational framework and technological capabilities of the proposed UT-level PMG portal, highlighting its potential to transform project monitoring through real-time digital tracking, structured review mechanisms and seamless inter-departmental coordination.
The meeting was informed that the proposed PMG would function as an institutional mechanism responsible for fast-tracking approvals, facilitating resolution of project-related issues, monitoring implementation milestones and ensuring timely execution of infrastructure projects and flagship schemes across the Union Territory.
The presentation outlined the proposed roadmap for operationalizing the JK-PMG. It envisages issuance of a Government Order for constitution of the Project Monitoring Group, appointment of a dedicated PMG team comprising domain experts and project management professionals, onboarding of nodal officers from all departments and districts, activation of the portal with support from the Central PMG, extensive stakeholder training and capacity building, uploading of all eligible projects on the portal and institutionalization of periodic review meetings under a structured escalation mechanism.
The PMG officials further informed that the proposed team would undertake creation and management of user groups, onboarding and training of stakeholders, identification and updation of departmental nodal officers, issue and project tracking, conduct of review meetings, documentation and record management, reporting and analytics, stakeholder outreach, coordination with the Central PMG and overall management of project proponents using the portal.
The Chief Secretary directed the concerned officers to prepare a detailed proposal for early establishment of the UT-level Project Monitoring Group by adopting the best practices of the national PMG framework while suitably customizing it to meet the specific administrative and developmental requirements of Jammu and Kashmir.
He expressed confidence that the proposed JK-PMG would emerge as a robust governance platform for ensuring timely completion of infrastructure projects, improving inter-departmental coordination, enhancing ease of doing business and accelerating socio-economic development across the Union Territory.
