Railways generates over 10 lakh 'man days' of work under GKRA

New Delhi: Indian Railways on Sunday said it has generated 10,66,246 man days of work till September 25 this year under Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyaan (GKRA) in six states to benefit migrant labourers.

These states include Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh where work opportunities are being generated for migrant labourers who lost their jobs during the lockdown imposed across the country to contain Covid-19 pandemic.

Around 164 Railway infrastructure projects are being executed in these states and Minister of Railways and Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal is closely monitoring the progress made in these projects, Indian Railways said in a statement. Till September 25, the statement said, 12,276 workers have been engaged in this Abhiyaan and the payment of Rs 2,190.7 crore has been released to the contractors for the projects being implemented.

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. Railways has identified a number of works which are being executed under this scheme. These works are related to construction and maintenance of approach roads for level crossings; development and 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 or cuttings; plantation of trees at extreme boundary of railway land; and protection works of existing embankments, cuttings and bridges.

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

This Abhiyaan of 125 days, is being undertaken in mission mode, and involves focused implementation of 25 categories of works or activities in 116 districts, each with a large concentration of returnee migrant workers in six states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha. Public works undertaken during this campaign will have a resource envelope of Rs 50,000 crore.

The campaign is a convergent effort between 12 different ministries or departments -- Rural Development; Panchayati Raj; Road Transport and Highways; Mines; Drinking Water and Sanitation; Environment; Railways; Petroleum and Natural Gas; New and Renewable Energy; Border Roads; Telecom and Agriculture to expedite implementation of 25 public infrastructure works and works relating to augmentation of livelihood opportunities.