Amit Shah says Union Territories ideal for pilot projects, stresses on making them role models for country

New Delhi, Dec 29 (PTI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the Union Territories should be guided by five principles that include ensuring security and achieving saturation in flagship schemes for its overall development.

Addressing a conference on Union Territories organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Shah said the UTs are small in geographical size and have a relatively simple administrative set up, and therefore they are ideal prototypes to experiment with pilot programmes.

He said these experiments can be tested on a small scale in UTs and then replicated in larger regions and states.

Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kept the ‘Panch Pranas’ of ‘Amrit Kaal’ and every UT administration should imbibe the spirit of these ‘Panch Pranas’ in the performance of their duties.

“The UTs should be guided by these five principles: creation of safe and secure UTs, achieving saturation in flagship schemes; minimum government, maximum governance; zero tolerance towards corruption; and develop best practices for the overall development of the UTs,” he said.

The home minister emphasised on making UTs a role model for the country and said that if the potential of UTs is fully harnessed, India will be able to achieve the goal of becoming the third largest economy in the world.

Directing the UTs to prepare their vision for 2047, he said they should take inspiration from prime minister’s motto of “vocal for local” and “Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat” while striving to become a hub of tourism, development and welfare.

Shah said all UTs should come together and work synergistically on a common platform to achieve the national objectives and vision and take the country forward in the journey of development.

He said the focus should be on cooperatives, especially in the fisheries sector, for development and public participation.

At the same time, he said, UTs should focus on increasing their manufacturing sector to reduce their dependence on external resources to reduce the loss of revenue.

The home minister said tourist circuits should be developed in the country to attract more people and reduce the cost of transportation etc.

He said all UTs have been given a roadmap for 2047 and an action plan for the next five years and the goals set for the next five years to be achieved. An annual plan should also be drawn up, he said.

Shah said development should reach the grassroots level.

The indicator of development cannot be measured only by the rising figures of GDP, but can be measured only by the positive impact it has on the remotest and most deprived people of the society, he said.

He called upon all UTs to exchange best practices and stressed on safe UTs, completion of flagship schemes, minimum government and maximum governance and zero tolerance against corruption.