The ministry of railways is considering generating employment under the government’s flagship rural job guarantee scheme, a move aimed at helping migrants who have returned home in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown imposed to slow its spread.
The idea was proposed at high-level meeting held by Union railway minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday with senior ministry officials , according to officials aware of the development.
The Indian Railways may generate employment for the migrants by tapping resources under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme for minor construction work. The national carrier mostly employs skilled labourers though private contractors for its construction work but the meeting discussed the use of workers under MGNREGA “instead of private labour and contractors for minor construction work usually in and around stations,” a senior railway official said, asking not to be named.
The rail ministry has asked railway zones to get in touch with district collectors across states to get an estimate of the workforce and demand for work in rural areas. The ministry’s move comes even as both the Centre and the states have begun the process of undertaking a comprehensive skill mapping exercise of migrant workers as part of an attempt to find them work closer home.
“ NREGA work seekers are daily wage workers. The plan is to discourage distress migration. It will be tough to bring them to urban areas where railway work is usually done... but through this scheme railways can provide employment in rural areas for minor work such as building boundary walls around stations, etc,” the railway official added.
{{/usCountry}}“ NREGA work seekers are daily wage workers. The plan is to discourage distress migration. It will be tough to bring them to urban areas where railway work is usually done... but through this scheme railways can provide employment in rural areas for minor work such as building boundary walls around stations, etc,” the railway official added.
{{/usCountry}}This won’t be the first time Railways is using the scheme. In 2015, it looked at potential work that could be taken up under MGNREGA. The areas identified included “construction and maintenance of approach roads for level crossings; developing and cleaning silted waterways and drains along the tracks...” a second official said.
“Railways should look at employing as many labourers whenever they can...because even though they focus on skilled construction work they will have a requirement for manual work as well where these labourers can be used,” said Jawaharlal Nehru University associate professor Himanshu.