Projects' completion priority for Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel

Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel will work for completion of projects and vitalising the bureaucracy. Patel, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah on Monday, was in the capital to get specific pointers from the two to put in place a government that would be ready to face polls in the next few months, government insiders said.

Patel has been tasked with delivering 'responsive governance' and putting the government in election mode. He has also been asked to crack the whip on the bureaucracy and make it more effective, particularly after the mounting criticism of slow delivery of services during Covid-19. Civic body polls in Gandhinagar on October 3 and a two-day monsoon session of the next week are the immediate focus areas of the party. Among the most important projects likely to get attention would be the border tourism project at Nadabet similar to the one at Wagah-Attari, desalination plants and a mega renewable energy park in Kutch.

"In the coming months, you will see a government in action. There will be many inaugurations as there are clear instructions to finish delayed projects and start new ones," the official said. Incidentally, the state government has reappointed retired IAS officer K Kailashnathan, as the CM's chief principal secretary, after rejig of eight top bureaucrats in the state.