NEW DELHI: The railways has generated over 1.5 lakh man-days of works for migrant workers in four weeks under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan with a total of Rs 608-crore being paid to them.
According to the national transporter, Bihar tops the list with over 60,000 man-days of work with an estimated spending of Rs 204.81 crore followed by Uttar Pradesh which has generated over 52,000 man-days of work at a cost of Rs 246 crore. Other states which have generated man-days of work for migrant labourers include Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Odisha with 32,379, 10,458 and 1,147 man-days of work at a cost of Rs 70.87 crore, Rs 43.49 crore and Rs 40.38 crore, respectively.
“The states were selected based on the number of migrant workers who had returned home through Shramik Special trains, which the railways has been operating since May 1,” an official said. A total of over 6L stranded migrants had returned home through these trains.
The national transporter has also identified 160 infrastructure developments works under the PM Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan, which was inaugurated by PM Modi in June and is currently operational in 116 districts across six states of Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar. The works under the PM Garib Kalyan Rojgar Yojana are related to the construction and maintenance of approach roads for level crossings, development and cleaning of silted waterways along the track.
They also include construction and maintenance of approach roads to railway stations and plantations at the boundaries of railway land. Railway Board chairman VK Yadav had said that the national transporter will generate over 8.6 lakh man-days while spending Rs 1,800 crore under the scheme by the end of October.