Railways generates over 5.5 lakh man-days of work under Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyaan

Indian Railways has generated more than 5.5 lakh man-days of work under the Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan in Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Around 165 railway infrastructure projects are being executed in these states worth Rs 2,988 crore.

"Till 14th August, 2020, 11,296 workers have been engaged in this Abhiyaan and the payment of Rs 1,336.84 crore has been released to the contractors for the projects being implemented," Ministry of Railways said on Sunday.

Inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 20, the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan aims to provide livelihood opportunities to migrant workers who were affected by the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. The Prime Minister had  announced that an amount of Rs 50,000 crore would be spent for building durable rural infrastructure under the scheme.

As per the release, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal is closely monitoring the progress of these projects and generation of work opportunities for the migrant labours of these states under the scheme.

Railway has appointed nodal officers in each district as well as in the states so that a close coordination is established with the state government, it said. Piyush Goyal has directed railway administration at zonal level to act proactively to ensure migrants are engaged in projects and paid accordingly, it added.

The Railways has identified various works which are being executed under this scheme. "The works are related to (i) construction and maintenance of approach roads for level crossings, (ii) development & cleaning of silted waterways, trenches and drains along the track, (iii) construction and maintenance of approach road to railway stations, (iv) repair and widening of existing railway embankments / cuttings, (v) plantation of trees at extreme boundary of railway land and (vi) protection works of existing embankments/ cuttings/bridges," it said.

This scheme of 125 days, is being undertaken in mission mode, and involves focused implementation of 25 categories of works/ activities in 116 districts, each with a large concentration of returnee migrant workers in 6 states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha.  

The scheme is a convergent effort between 12 different ministries/departments, namely; Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Road Transport & Highways, Mines, Drinking Water & Sanitation, Environment, Railways, Petroleum & Natural Gas, New & Renewable Energy, Border Roads, Telecom and Agriculture, to expedite implementation of 25 public infrastructure works.

By Chitranjan Kumar

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