IT Taskforce – Ministry of Shipping and Road Transport & Highways

India’s transportation sector that constitutes six percent of the country's GDP, is a priority sector under “Make in India” initiative. Government of India has launched major initiatives to upgrade and strengthen highways and expressways in the country. The sector has been receiving strong budgetary support over the years and the recent Union Budget 2015-16 has increased infrastructure spending by almost 20 percent as compared to last year, with a massive Rs. 14,031 crores allocation for the roads sector.
The government has invested almost Rs 430 billion during 2010-14 to develop India’s ports. 90 percent of the country’s trade by volume and 70 percent by value is moved through maritime transportation. 12 major ports in India handle approximately 58 percent of cargo traffic. A new financial assistance scheme is being given in the form of grant-in-aid for construction/upgradation of coastal berths and capital dredging projects that will deepen the berths and navigational channels.
A slew of steps are on to develop not only all 12 major ports but also the minor ports that come under the control of state governments to ensure that ports, along with surface transport and highways contribute at least 2 per cent to the GDP in next two years.
One of the initiatives from the NDA government led to the formation of IT taskforce for ministry of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping with a focused mandate to facilitate simplification of procedures by leveraging the use of Information Technology (IT) in these sectors. The taskforce on its part has visited various ports, harbours, highways and project implementation units (PIU) of the country to assess the current situation and forwarded their recommendations to improve their situations accordingly.
Profile of Task Force members:
1.Dr. Mohandas Pai Ji:
2.Shri Vinit Goenka Ji:
3.Shri Prashant Pole Ji:
4.Shri Girish Shrivastava Ji:
5.Shri Abhijit Desai Ji