The Special Secretary (Logistics) Sumita Dawra gave the valedictory remarks at the concluding day of regional workshops on Gati Shakti NMP organised by the DPIIT, MoCI, and her suggestions hold the power to transform Indian logistics, if applied diligently. Her address to the audience recognised communication and collaboration as the key to help India stand out as a part of the global supply chains.
She suggested the states to conduct inter-department meetings to create awareness on PM Gati Shakti principles and augment infrastructure for an efficient logistics ecosystem. She suggested communication between stakeholders like investors and regional business associations, so as to understand how infrastructure and logistics systems can be further improvised.
Dawra also suggested to take action in areas that encompass the logistics ecosystem including human resources development, skilling and capacity building in logistics – focus courses on logistics and supply chain to be integrated in course curriculum of universities. She also urged better inclusivity for start ups that can help promote logistics efficiency. She also underlined the importance of the use of technology and green initiatives while planning the logistics eco-system
According to Dawra, logistics parks need to be developed and integrated with manufacturing clusters for facilitating development of warehouses, integrated check posts, land custom stations, and temperature-controlled facilities – all of it should be in the policy framework. Her suggestions also highlighted how cluster based approach to economic centers should be forted, which shall also help in leveraging India’s inland waterways’ network. Also, she suggested mapping of freight flows in order to have a demand driven approach to logistics efficiency for the next 10-15 years.
The focus should also be on attracting private investments in logistics related infrastructure, giving industry status to logistics to facilitate easy financial access on concessional terms, establishing city logistics committees and develop city logistics plans for efficient freight flow management, she said, asking for action plans for bringing down logistics cost be formulated duly identifying priority areas for taking up multimodal infrastructure related interventions.
Separately, Anurag Jain (Secretary, DPIIT, Government of India) urged the states to take PM Gati Shakti to district and gram panchayat levels. He appreciated efforts towards integrated planning for infrastructure development and social sector decision-making while motivating the states to bring out their State Logistics Policies. He also highlighted the importance of data quality and authenticity for accurate planning on NMP (National Master Plan) or SMP (State Master Plan).
During the concluding day of the workshop, the state of Uttar Pradesh also gave a presentation on its logistics policy. The Uttar Pradesh Warehousing and Logistics Policy 2022 highlights the state’s infrastructure and logistics potential. The policy outlines investment opportunities and parameters, fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, and fast track land allotment. The state has also decided to earmark land for logistics sector in every Industrial Park/Zone in the state.
Other states that presented their respective logistics policies include Haryana, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, and West Bengal.
