The Railways has generated more than 8 lakh man-days of work in Bihar, Rajasthan and other four states, under Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan scheme launched in June to tackle the impact of COVID-19 on migrant workers, the ministry said on Tuesday.
“Indian Railways has generated 8,09,046 man-days of work till September 4, 2020, under Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan in six states viz Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry is closely monitoring the progress made in these projects and generation of work opportunities for the migrant labourers of these states under this scheme. Around 164 railway infrastructure projects are being executed in these states,” the ministry said in a statement.
The scheme launched with funding of ₹50,000 crore. The Railways has been executing various works under it, including construction and maintenance of approach roads for level crossings, development and cleaning of silted waterways, trenches and drains, and maintenance of approach roads to railway stations.
“Till September 4, 12,276 workers had been engaged in this programme and the payment of ₹1,631.80 crore has been released to the contractors for the projects being implemented,” it further added.
Nodal officers have been appointed in each district and state in order to coordinate with the concerned state government.
The Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan of 125 days is being undertaken in mission mode and involves the focused implementation of 25 categories of works/activities in 116 districts, each with a large concentration of returnee migrant workers in the six states. The Abhiyaan is a convergent effort between 12 different ministries or departments.
