The Railways on Wednesday said it will generate 8 lakh mandays employment in various infrastructure projects till October 2020. The announcement follows a meeting between officials from the Ministry of Railways with the zonal railways and Railway PSUs to review the progress of the “Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan” launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 20.
“The zonal railways have been instructed to expedite execution of all infrastructure works in 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 mandays of employment by the end of October 2020. Approximately ₹1,800 crore would be spent in these districts,” an official statement said.
The Railways said the Abhiyaan of 125 days will work in mission mode and will involve focused implementation of various categories of works/activities in 116 districts, each with a large concentration of returnee migrant workers in of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha.
Chairman, Railway Board, Vinod Kumar Yadav instructed the zonal railways to appoint nodal officers in each district and the States for close coordination with the governments, and asked the administration to act proactively to ensure migrants’ are engaged in projects and paid accordingly, the statement said.
It said the Railways has also identified projects which can be executed through the MGNREGS. This includes work related to construction and maintenance of approach roads for level crossings, development & cleaning of silted waterways, trenches and drains along the track, construction and maintenance of approach road to railway stations, repair and widening of existing railway embankments/ cuttings, plantation of trees at extreme boundary of railway land and protection work of embankments/ cuttings/bridges.
“The zonal railways have also been instructed to get sanction of proposed works under the MGNREGS,” the Railways said, adding that they will need to monitor the works on a daily basis and submit a report to the Ministry every Friday till end of October 2020.
