Ministry of Railways review progress of 'Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan'

New Delhi [India], June 24 : The Ministry of Railways on Wednesday reviewed the progress of Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan with Zonal Railways and Railway PSUs through video conference meeting.
Inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 20, Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan is in operation in 116 identified districts of six states - Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Jharkhand.
Chairman Railway Board, Vinod Kumar Yadav on Wednesday took a video conference meeting with General Managers and Divisional Railway Managers and Managing Directors of PSUs regarding the progress of Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan, read a statement.
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. He directed Railway administration at Zonal level to act proactively to ensure migrants are engaged in projects and paid accordingly.
The statement added that the Zonal railways have been instructed 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 1,800 crore would be spent in these districts.
Railway has also identified numbers of railway works which can be executed through MGNREGS. The 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/cuttings; plantation of trees at the extreme boundary of railway land; and protection works of existing embankments/cuttings/bridges.
Zonal Railways have also been instructed to get a 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 Modi earlier 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, 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 in six states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha. Public works to be undertaken during this campaign will have a resource envelope of Rs 50,000 crore.
It will be a convergent effort between 12 different Ministries/Departments, namely; 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.