Govt to set up 35 Multi Modal Logistics Parks in country

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari has said that the government plans to set up 35 Multi-Modal Logistics Parks in the country at a total cost of 50,000 crore rupees.Addressing the National Conference on Investment Opportunities in Highways, Transport and Logistics in Mumbai, Gadkari said these parks have been conceptualized to enable seamless intermodal freight movement and offer multiple functionalities such as freight aggregation and distribution, storage and warehousing solutions and value-added services such as custom clearances and IT services. He added that all these Multi-Modal Logistics Parks will be developed as part of the Design, Build Finance, Operate and Transfer model. Gadkari said his ministry will execute infrastructure projects worth 7 lakh crore rupees in the next 2-3 years. 

-Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has urged Indian industry to think big and set accelerated and aggressive targets, with a vision to achieve transformative changes by 2047 when India would be celebrating hundred years of independence. He was delivering the keynote address at the 94th Annual Convention of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi on Friday. The Minister conveyed his appreciation to FICCI for making the Indian pavilion at the Dubai Expo a reality in the face of challenges and uncertainties caused by the pandemic. The Indian pavilion has been one of the most visited and appreciated pavilions at the Dubai Expo. Dwelling upon the challenges faced by Indian industry during the pandemic, Goyal said that it had recovered remarkably well and is poised for faster growth. The Minister also said that 400 billion dollar worth of merchandise export could very well become a reality.

-Union Home Minister and Minister for Cooperation Amit Shah on Friday said that before 2017 the cooperative sector in Uttar Pradesh was a hub of corruption but in the last four and half years, Yogi Government has transformed it, and now this sector is serving people with its full capacity. He was speaking in Lucknow after the launching of projects worth 155 crore rupees related to Uttar Pradesh state warehousing corporation and UP cooperative bank. This includes 23 new branches of Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Bank and 29 Godowns of Uttar Pradesh State Warehousing Corporation. Prior to the function,  Shah held a public rally in Lucknow this afternoon. The rally named "Sarkar Banao, Adhikar Pao" was jointly organized by Bharatiya Janata Party and Nishad Party.  While addressing the rally, Shah said that the people of Uttar Pradesh believe only in the double engine and double development government of Chief Minister Yogi and Prime minister Modi.

-In Manipur, the media houses did not publish newspapers on Friday as the journalist bodies decided to observe a cease-work strike over the state government failure to clear the bills of government advertisements.The Editor's Guild Manipur and Manipur Hill Journalists' Union took the decision to observe the cease work strike and also warned the state government that the media houses of Manipur will gradually stop covering news related to ministers, government and ruling parties if there is no visible action. The journalists’ bodies said that over Rs 10 crore advertisement bills have been pending with media houses of the state for the last many years and the state government has failed to clear the bills in time. Meanwhile, Chief Minister N. Biren Singh swung into action and called an emergency meeting with the Heads of state departments to discuss the pending advertisement bills issue. He also advised the state IPR Department to take up necessary action to clear the bills at the earliest.

-Haryana government has started Khel Nursery Scheme to promote sports in the state. This was stated by Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs Sandeep Singh. He said, under the scheme, sports nurseries will be started in government, private educational institutions and private sports institutions. For this, applications have been invited by the department till January 20, 2022. The minister said, with this scheme, sports talent will get an opportunity to emerge at the grassroots level. Under the scheme, sports nurseries are being opened for the sports included in the Olympic, Asian and Commonwealth Games.