Rajkot: The central government has included four ambitious development projects of Rajkot city-district under the PM Gatishakti Yojana which is expected to provide impetus to Hirasar Airport project, Doubling of the Rajkot-Kanalus railway track, and the Rajkot-Gondal-Jetpur- highway projects, all of whom are running behind schedule.

The PM Gatishakti Yojana is an umbrella providing Multi-Model Connectivity to projects under seven heads such as Railways, Roads, Ports, Water-way, Airport, Mass Transportation and Logistic Infrastructure covering 16 ministries of the central government.

The state government is progressing at a snail’s pace in the matter of land acquisition for the Hirasar Airport, where even after the meeting of the District Evaluation Committee the issue of when compensation will be paid to the villagers who will be displaced because of the project is yet to be decided.

The doubling of the Rajkot-Kanalus Railway Track is still at the stage of notification being issued for it.

While there is uncertainty surrounding the fate of the Rajkot-Gondal-Jetpur highway, the administration is yet to give a deadline for completion of the six-laning of the Ahmedabad –Rajkot Highway, which is a part of this project.

Despite being monitored from the Prime Minister’s Office, there has been a delay in the light house projects of Rajkot city, while the launch of the indoor patient department at AIIMS Rajkot has been delayed owing to construction of the AIIMS building moving at a snail’s pace.

According to the district collector, though AIIMS will be brought under the PM Gatishakti Yojana in the next year, the indoor patient department of AIIMS will become functional from December onwards.

The rest of the projects will also be subject to fast-track, data-based monitoring with review scheduled every fortnight at the district level and every month by the state government and the union government. DeshGujarat