Union home minister Amit Shah speaks during the inauguration of the Land Port Management System (LPMS) at Vigyan Bhawan, in New Delhi on Tuesday. (ANI Photo/Jitender Gupta)
NEW DELHI: Launching the land port management system (LPMS) — an integrated platform that will enable end-to-end digital workflows for cargo processing and passenger movement across all land ports — here on Tuesday, home minister Amit Shah said it would help reduce paperwork by 90%, cut waiting times for cargo trucks by 22-35% and constrict gate processing time by 40-60%.“LPMS, a modern, digital, integrated and real-time system that takes every single stakeholder and data system on board, will in the coming days become a vital component of the envisioned ‘smart security grid’, and help ensure both economic security as well as physical security. It will increase synergy and information-sharing among the agencies,” Shah said in his address at the launch event.Fifteen land ports are currently operational in the country, with plans to develop 11 more over the next three years.The home minister said LPMS will also boost tourism, apart from increasing trade volumes. “It will promote people to people contact and promote cultural exchange among the villages on both sides of the border, replace illegal activities/trade with legitimate trade, and enable all-round development of border villages and districts, thus arresting outmigration,” he added.Shah said the home ministry is working to implement the ‘smart border’ concept, and this along with LPMS will make the borders impregnable. He mentioned how the launch of LPMS coincides with completion of 12 years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governance focused on “public welfare” and “putting India on the path of progress and development”. The home minister also referred to another coinciding milestone: Modi’s surpassing Jawaharlal Nehru’s unbroken 4,398-day stint as Prime Minister, on Wednesday.The home minister highlighted how in the past 12 years under Modi, trade through land ports has increased sixteen-fold to Rs 83,000 crore from Rs 5,000 crore in 2014.Crediting Modi for introducing the concept of “360-degree and equitable development” in the administrative realm, Shah said that “in the last 12 years, 25 crore have risen above poverty line”. “Nearly 81 crore are getting 5 kg free rations, 58 crore have new jan dhan accounts, 44 crore have a Rs 5 lakh Ayushman cover, 16 crore houses have got access to tap water, 12.7 crore houses have toilets and over 10.5 crore houses have access to cooking gas. ,”Today, nearly 4 crore pucca houses have already been provided…and the construction of another 2 crore is in the pipeline. In two years, there will not be a single family in India without a pucca home,” he said.The home minister highlighted that thanks to Modi’s developmental push, several aspirational districts had reached levels comparable to five top districts in the country along 30 defined parameters. Giving the example of India’s resilience during Covid, Shah said the Modi govt has overcome difficulties and challenges better than most countries in the world.
