English: Cloze Test(New Pattern) for Upcoming Exams – Set 155

Directions(1-10): In the passage given below there are 10 blanks. Every blank has four alternative words given in options (A),(B),(C), and (D). You have to tell which word is INAPPROPRIATE according to the context. If all are appropriate then mark your answer as “E”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reportedly ___1___ senior civil servants in key infrastructure ministries to tightly ___2___ ongoing projects both in the public sector and in public-private partnership, so as to avoid time and cost ___3___. The whole concept of administrative oversight needs to be ___4___ and modernised by the purposeful use of information technology, so that even the public, and not just the officialdom and their political supervisors, can monitor the progress of large projects on a weekly, and even daily, basis.
Stalled projects and attendant delays in the past several years have wrought ___5___ economy-wide, which has ___6___ investment and decelerated growth, and in the process, ___7___ costs right across the board. Hence the pressing need for software tools that can be used by the concerned citizenry to track and monitor key infrastructure projects. We do need to go well beyond simply stating ___8___ facts, say, that a road has been left incomplete for a 15-km stretch. What is surely required is details of the ___9___: land acquisition, release of funds or administrative clearance. Metro man E Sreedharan made his name by completion of the Konkan Railway project in the 1990s, where he put up large clocks at project sites that showed days and weeks remaining, so as to fast track implementation. We need I-T tools to go to the next level.
Reportedly, the Railways plan to ___10___ redevelopment of 10 stations, and three coal linkages to improve logistics. Also, the civil aviation ministry wants to expedite 50 airports in tier-II and tier-III towns. And the highways ministry wants to focus on completion of ongoing projects and have at least one lane for electronic toll collection at all toll plaza along the national highways by April 15. Track and monitor them all.

1. directed
   captor
   commanded
   guided
   None of these
   Option B
   

    

2. observe
   regulate
   administer
   monitor
   None of these
   Option A
   

    

3. engulfs
   retreats
   overruns
   deluges
   None of these
   Option B
   

    

4. renovated
   objected
   overhauled
   mended
   None of these
   Option B
   

    

5. havoc
   resurrection
   mayhem
   ruination
   None of these
   Option B
   

    

6. blocked
   effective
   stymied
   foiled
   None of these
   Option B
   

    

7. dragged out
   revved up
   speed up
   fire up
   None of these
   Option A
   

    

8. insipid
   bland
   sharp
   vapid
   None of these
   Option C
   

    

9. stick-up
   belly up
   step-up
   hold-up
   None of these
   Option B
   

    

10. disdain
    prefer
    prioritise
    highlight
    None of these
    Option A