Railways move for employment of migrant workers across nation

GUWAHATI: The Ministry of Railways reviewed the progress of 'Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan' with all Zonal Railways and Railway PSUs through video conference meetings on Wednesday. Railway Board Chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav held the meetings with the General Managers (GMs) and Divisional Railway Managers (DRMs) and Managing Directors (MDs) of PSUs.

Addressing the meeting, Yadav instructed Zonal Railways to appoint nodal officers in each district as well as in the States so that close coordination is established with the State Government. Yadav directed the Railway administration at the zonal level to act proactively to ensure migrants are engaged in projects and paid accordingly.

All Zonal Railways have been instructed by the Railway Board to expedite the execution of all ongoing infrastructure works in these identified districts. Around 160 infrastructure works have been identified which are to be expedited. These would engage thousands of workers and roughly generate 8 lakh man days of employment by the end of October 2020. Approximately Rs 1800 crore would be spent in these districts.

The Railway has also identified the number of railway works which can be executed through MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme). The works are related to (i) construction and maintenance of approach roads for level crossings; (ii) development and 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, stated a release.

All Zonal Railways have also been instructed to get the sanction of proposed works under MGNREGS. Zonal Railways would be monitoring the works on a daily basis and submit a report to Ministry every Friday till the end of October 2020.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the massive employment-cum-rural public works campaign named 'Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan' to empower and provide livelihood opportunities in areas/ villages witnessing a large number of returnee migrant workers affected by the devastating COVID-19 on June 20, 2020. The Prime Minister announced that an amount of Rs 50,000 crores would be spent for building durable rural infrastructure under the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan.

This Abhiyaan of 125 days will work in mission mode; will involve focused implementation of 25 categories of works/ activities in 116 districts, each with a large concentration of returnee migrant workers. This campaign will have a resource envelope of Rs. 50,000 crores.

The Abhiyaan will be 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 and works relating to augmentation of livelihood opportunities, the release added.

Also read: Evening Bulletin | 24th June, 2020