PRAGATI progress report: 3,300 delayed projects worth Rs 85 lakh crore fast-tracked
Similarly, had it not been for PRAGATI, a review mechanism to expedite projects delayed for various reasons, the recently opened Navi Mumbai airport would have become operational only in 2049.
The railway line and airport are among more than 3,300 projects worth Rs 85 million that are being fast-tracked after coming under the PRAGATI umbrella. “Proactive Governance and Timely Implementation or PRAGATI took up 3,300 projects… 7,735 issues were raised and 7,156 of them were resolved,” cabinet secretary TV Somanathan said in a press conference on the results of the 50 meetings. he said.
Somanathan said that of the 7,156 issues resolved through PRAGATI, 35% were related to land acquisition, 20% were related to forest, wildlife and environment issues, 18% were related to tenure or right of way, while the others were delays due to law and order, construction, power service approvals and financial issues. Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally reviewed as many as 382 projects and out of 3,187 issues raised in these projects, 2,958 were resolved. The platform also reviewed 61 important government schemes, including One Nation-One Ration Card, PM Jan Aarogya Yojana, PM Awas Yojana, PM SVANidhi and Swachh Bharat Mission.
Coordination Gaps
Complaints of citizens in 36 sectors, including Covid-19, RERA, banking, insurance, Jan Dhan and Matru Vandana, were addressed. The cabinet secretary said PM Modi conceptualized PRAGATI in 2015 to combat time and cost overruns, a chronic hurdle in India’s public projects. He said PRAGATI has addressed three coordination gaps – between central ministries, between the Center and states and between state governments. The cabinet secretary said that on average, one issue was resolved every working day after the review was carried out under the chairmanship of PRAGATI.
Asked whether the government has any plans to review the land acquisition policy, which has emerged as the biggest obstacle to timely execution of projects, the cabinet secretary said, “There are no plans to change the land acquisition policy.” He said states are willing to resolve their problems through such a mechanism and some have already replicated this. “All states, irrespective of their political immunity, want to complete their projects and all chief secretaries have been very responsive in resolving the issues,” he said. When asked about the most troublesome project faced by the PRAGATI mechanism, Somanathan mentioned the Jammu-Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project, which was approved in March 1994 and commissioned on June 6, 2025.Process
Somanathan said PRAGATI has a multi-layered tracking mechanism that ensures timely implementation of decisions. He said projects are tracked and monitored by the cabinet secretariat, while plans and complaints are reviewed at the ministerial level, under constant surveillance by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and finally at the Prime Minister’s level. Somanathan said the upgrade framework ensures inter-ministerial coordinated action, timely decision-making and focused resolution of implementation bottlenecks in projects of national importance. He cited a study by the University of Oxford Said Business School, which said the PRAGATI platform offers a compelling case study of how digital governance can support progress. The study is titled: From Stagnation to Growth – How Leadership Enables India’s PRAGATI Ecosystem to Empower Progress.
Learnings
PRAGATI has led to an improvement in the quality of Detailed Project Reports (DPRs), greater use of the PM Gati Shakti portal, creation of land banks for compensatory afforestation and net upgrading thresholds for projects above Rs 500 crore. Somanathan said the National Academy of Management has prepared training modules for junior officers based on lessons learned from PRAGATI.
