Clear all dues by Oct 15: Finance minister to CPSEs

NEWDELHI: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday asked32largeCentralPublicSectorEnterprises(CPSEs) tofrontload their capital expenditure andclearallduesofallgoodsand service providers by October 15.

CPSEshavealsobeenaskedto build a portal by October 15 where delay in payments can be monitored on a regular basis, Sitharamansaidafterreviewing the capex plan of CPSEs.

Sitharamanhadheldasimilar review meeting of 21 infrastructurerelatedgovernmentdepartments on Friday.

These developments come in the backdrop of the government trying to revive the Indian economy which grew at an over sixyearlowof5%duringApril-June. Till August 19, the 32 CPSEs had spent₹48,177croreofatotal₹1.53 trillion capex budget for the currentfiscal.Theyhavepromisedto fast-track their spending by another ₹50,159 crore by December.CPSEshavealsobeenasked to submit a list of potential projects for the first half of next financialyearwhereinvestment can be fastened.

Sitharaman raised concern over purchases by CPSEs up to ₹60,000 crore outside the GEM portal, seeking an explanation. Central ministries are also supposed buy up to another ₹30,000 crore outside GEM portal while the items are available on GEM. NEW DELHI: Before boarding the flighttoHoustonforthe“Howdy, Modi!”megashowonSeptember 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reorganised his office, or thePMO,withworkallocationto senior officers designed to boost efficiency and ensure optimum delivery, completing a process that he began in late August.

The new Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), as a result, bears little resemblance to the old. Many of the old faces are gone, NEWDELHI: A five-judge Constitution bench will start hearing on October 1 petitions challenging a Central government move to effectively revoke Article 370, which guaranteed special status to J&K. CJI Ranjan Gogoi on Saturday set up a five-judge bench comprisingjusticesNVRamana, SK Kaul, R.Subhash Reddy, BR GavaiandSuryaKanttohearthe petitionschallengingthelegality of the government action, according to people in the court registry aware of the matter.

OnAugust5and6,Parliament and in other cases, responsibilities have been reassigned.

Thus additional secretary Tarun Bajaj, a 1988 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, haschargeofseveralkey ministries (including the ones approved provisions nullifying Article370, whichoffered special status to J&K, and Article 35A, under which outsiders were barred from holding government jobs or owning property in Kashmir. The government also decidedtobifurcatethestateinto two Union territories— Jammu andKashmir,andLadakh—ina move that would come into force on October 31. Under Article 370 of the constitution, J&K enjoyed completeautonomyandthestate legislature was free to draft its own laws, except in the areas of communications, defence, finance and foreign affairs. focused on science and technology) — Parliament, Right to Information(RTI), and also J&K and the Northeastern states and Haryana. In addition, he has oversightoffinance,trade,corporate affairs, NITI Aayog and statistics. His batchmate Arvind Kumar Sharma is in charge of most infrastructure ministries, including civil aviation and petroleum (these are new additionstohisportfolio). Hehasalso been given charge of the politicallyimportantstatesofGujarat, UP, Kerala and Odisha.

IN THE MODI 2.0 PMO, THE WORK ALLOCATION HAS NOT ONLY BEEN CONFINED TO OFFICERS BUT ALSO PERSONAL OFFICE STAFF