In view of unprecedented Lockdowns in the wake of Covid-19, huge returnee migrant workers have been jobless at various parts of the country. In this situation, Govt. of India has introduced Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyaan to tackle the impact of Covid-19 on jobless migrant workers in the country. This is mainly a beneficiary scheme and Government of India has provided a funding of 50,000 Crores for 116 districts in 6 states of India.
Abhiyaan is a mission to address the issues of returnee migrant workers through multi-pronged strategy for providing immediate employment and livelihood.
- This scheme is being implemented in Kharagpur Division of South Eastern Railway.
- 1505 man-days of work till 04.09.2020 under Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyaan have been generated in the on-going infrastructural works in Balasore District of Odisha under Engineering Department of Kharagpur Division of South Eastern Railway.
- People are involved in different types of construction works i.e Bridge Construction Works, Special Building Repair & Supply of Building Materials Works, Track Maintenance Works, Miscellaneous and Building Repair Works.
- The District authority has provided workers and Rs.0.06321 crores were paid to them by contractors for the on-going works.
- SE Railway in association with State Authority is closely monitoring the works.
More About Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyaan:
Indian Railways has generated 8,09,046 mandays of work till 4 September 2020 under Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyaan in 6 States viz. Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
Shri 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 labours of these states under this scheme. Around 164 Railway infrastructure projects are being executed in these states.
- It may be noted that Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi 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 20th June 2020.
- The Prime Minister announced that an amount of Rs 50,000 crores 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/activities in 116 districts, each with a large concentration of returnee migrant workers in 6 states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha.
- Public works is being undertaken during this campaign will have a resource envelope of Rs. 50,000 crores.
Railway has identified no. of Railway works which are being executed under this scheme. The works are related to:
- Construction and maintenance of approach roads for level crossings.
- Development & 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 extreme boundary of railway land.
- Protection works of existing embankments/cuttings/bridges.
Convergent efforts by Ministries/Departments:
The Abhiyaan is a convergent effort between 12 different Ministries/Departments, namely; Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Road Transport & Highways, Mines, Drinking Water & Sanitation, Environment, Railways, Petroleum & Natural Gas, New & Renewable Energy, Border Roads, Telecom and Agriculture, to expedite implementation of 25 public infrastructure works and works relating to augmentation of livelihood opportunities.
Source: South Eastern Railway-Press Release | Image Credit: MoR
