Wow! Indian Railways to spend Rs 1,800 cr to generate 8 lakh man days of employment in next 125 days

The Indian Railways has announced it will generate 8 lakh man days of employment for migrant labourers and others in infrastructure projects worth Rs 1,800 Crores in the next 125 days till 31st October 2020. The Ministry of Railways made this decision after reviewing the progress of ‘Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan’ being implemented in 116 districts in 6 states recently launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Railway Zones and Rail PSUs participated in the review meeting about the progress of Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan.

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

See Zee Business Live TV streaming below:

Around 160 types of 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. Around Rs 1800 crore would be spent in these districts.

Railway has also identified a number of railway works, which can be executed through MGNREGS. 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 roads 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.