The Indian Telegraph (Infrastructure Safety) Rules 2022

• 07 Jan 2023

For Prelims: Department of Telecommunications formulates the Indian Telegraph (Infrastructure Safety) Rules 2022, PM Gati Shakti NMP platform.

For Mains: Significance of Indian Telegraph (Infrastructure Safety) Rules, 2022.

Why in News?

Recently, the Department of Telecommunications under the Ministry of Communications has formulated the Indian Telegraph (Infrastructure Safety) Rules, 2022.

• The Central government has envisioned fulfilling the communication needs of the citizens and enterprises through establishment of a resilient, secure, accessible and affordable Digital Communications Infrastructure and Services.

What is the Indian Telegraph (Infrastructure Safety) Rules, 2022?

• Under the Rules, any person who wishes to exercise a legal right to dig or excavate any property which is likely to cause damage to a telegraph infrastructure must give notice to the licensee.
• The person digging or excavating shall take appropriate action on precautionary measures provided by the licensee.
• Any person, who has dug or excavated any property causing damage to a telegraph infrastructure, will be liable to pay the damage charges to the telegraph authority.
• Once the asset owner agencies map their underlying assets with GIS coordinates on PM GatiShakti National Master Plan platform, it will also be possible to know the presence of underlying utility assets, at the point of interest, before start of excavation.

What are the Associated Advantages?

• Many utilities can be saved from unwanted cuts and wasteful costs towards restoration.
  • Thus, saving thousands of crores for businesses and associated tax loss to Government.
• Inconvenience caused to citizens because of frequent breakdown may be reduced due to better synergy between the agencies.

What is PM Gati Shakti -National Master Plan for Multi-modal Connectivity?

• Aim:
  • To ensure integrated planning and implementation of infrastructure projects in the next four years, with focus on expediting works on the ground, saving costs and creating jobs.
  • Besides cutting logistics costs, the scheme is also aimed at increasing cargo handling capacity and reducing the turnaround time at ports to boost trade.
  • It will help in fulfilling the ambitious targets set by the government for 2024-25, including expanding the length of the national highway network to 2 lakh kms, creation of more than 200 new airports, heliports and water aerodromes.
• PM Gati Shakti is based on Six Pillars:
  • Comprehensiveness: It will include all the existing and planned initiatives of various Ministries and Departments with one centralized portal. Each and every Department will now have visibility of each other's activities providing critical data while planning & execution of projects in a comprehensive manner.
  • Prioritization: Through this, different Departments will be able to prioritize their projects through cross-sectoral interactions.
  • Optimization: The National Master Plan will assist different ministries in planning for projects after identification of critical gaps. For the transportation of the goods from one place to another, the plan will help in selecting the most optimum route in terms of time and cost.
  • Synchronization: Individual Ministries and Departments often work in silos. There is lack of coordination in planning and implementation of the project resulting in delays. PM Gati Shakti will help in synchronizing the activities of each department, as well as of different layers of governance, in a holistic manner by ensuring coordination of work between them.
  • Analytical: The plan will provide the entire data at one place with GIS based spatial planning and analytical tools having 200+ layers, enabling better visibility to the executing agency.
  • Dynamic: All Ministries and Departments will now be able to visualize, review and monitor the progress of cross-sectoral projects, through the GIS platform, as the satellite imagery will give on-ground progress periodically and progress of the projects will be updated on a regular basis on the portal. It will help in identifying the vital interventions for enhancing and updating the master plan.
• Gati Shakti Digital Platform:
  • It involves the creation of a common umbrella platform through which infrastructure projects can be planned and implemented in an efficacious manner by way of coordination between various ministries/departments on a real-time basis.
  • It is essentially a digital platform to bring 16 Ministries including Railways and Roadways together.

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Question (PYQ)

Q. The Gati-Shakti Yojana needs meticulous co-ordination between the government and the private sector to achieve the goal of connectivity. Discuss. (2022)

Source: PIB