'Railways generated 1.6 lakh mandays of work in 4 weeks under Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan'

NEW DELHI: The Railways has spent more than Rs 608 crore and generated over one lakh mandays of work in rural areas under the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan in just four weeks of its launch, a senior official of the national transporter said on Friday.
Inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 20, the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan is in operation in 116 identified districts of six states - Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Jharkhand.

"In the last four weeks, we have already generated 1,61,251 mandays and spent Rs 608.87 crore. This is very encouraging and we will continue to support the work,” Railway Board Chairman V K Yadav told an online press briefing.

The Railways has identified 160 infrastructure works under the scheme, designed to provide employment to the labourers who returned to their villages due to the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown.

It has envisaged generating roughly around 8 lakh mandays of employment by the end of October, spending approximately Rs 1,800 crore.

Giving the state-wise break-up, he said in Bihar, the Railways generated 62,667 mandays of work, spending Rs 204.81 crore; while in Uttar Pradesh, it has generated 52,696 mandays of work, spending Rs 246.30 crore.

The respective numbers for Rajasthan are 10,458 mandays of work and Rs 43.49 crore; for Madhya Pradesh 32,379 mandays and Rs 70.87 crore, for Odisha 1,147 mandays of work and Rs 40.38 crore; while in Jharkhand, the Railways generated 1,904 mandays of work at a cost of Rs 3.03 crore.

The works identified include numbers of railway works which can be executed through the rural employment guarantee scheme 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 at the extreme boundary of railway land; and protection works of existing embankments/cuttings/bridges.

Railways zones have also been instructed to get sanction for proposed works under MGNREGS. Zonal Railways would be monitoring the works on a daily basis and submit a report to the ministry every Friday till the end of October 2020.

Prime Minister Modi had earlier announced that an amount of Rs 50,000 crore would be spent for building durable rural infrastructure under the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan.