Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged all Chief Secretaries to make sure that all traders register under the GST regime by August 15.

In his twentieth interaction through PRAGATI — the ICT-based platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation — Modi said that he wants the registration to be completed before August 15.

An official statement said that the Prime Minister began the meeting with a review of the situation arising out of flood and other natural calamities in the North-Eastern States.

The Prime Minister also reviewed the progress long-pending infrastructure projects in the railway, road and petroleum sectors, spread over several States including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Arunachal Pradesh.

The projects reviewed today, include the Chennai Beach-Korukkupet third line and the Chennai Beach-Attippattu fourth line; the Howrah-Amta-Champadanga new Broad Gauge line; and four-laning of Varanasi bypass; four-laning of Muzaffarnagar-Haridwar section of NH-58.

Modi noted that several of the projects reviewed today have been pending for decades, and in one case, over four decades.

The statement said that he urged all Chief Secretaries to take all possible steps to avoid delays, and resulting cost escalations.

The Prime Minister also reviewed the progress of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), handling and resolution of grievances related to CPWD, and Directorate of Estates. Modi urged CPWD to encourage all vendors to come aboard the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) platform.