E-Paper
‘Efforts on to hire jobless migrant workers for DFC project’
Owing to massive demand of workers, DFC authorities have written to district magistrates of several districts across nine states, including UP, to hold back the migrant labourers and send them to DFC so that the migrant labours could be trained and provided work.
At a time when lockdown has rendered umpteen migrant workers jobless, officials of dedicated freight corridor (DFC) project are making efforts to provide them work.
Owing to massive demand of workers, DFC authorities have written to district magistrates of several districts across nine states, including UP, to hold back the migrant labourers and send them to DFC so that the migrant labours could be trained and provided work.
“These workers can look forward to receiving a fast-paced training and get hired for laying railway tracks in different sections of DFC as per need. Efforts in this regard have been initiated by officials of both eastern and western DFCs of the country at their respective locations, including between Dankuni in West Bengal and Ludhiana in Punjab, falling under eastern DFC,” said eastern DFC’s chief public relations officer (CPRO) Ved Prakash.
He further said the ongoing work had stopped in various sections during to the first phase of the lockdown and then was re-started when the government issued fresh norms subsequently.
“We require a large number of workers for the DFC work and want to absorb a chunk of migrant factory workers made jobless during the lockdown and now heading to their native homes in hordes,” he added.
The union ministry of railways, under the Centre’s direction, has taken up the DFC project involving construction of six freight corridors traversing the entire country to provide a safe and efficient freight transportation system.
Initially, the construction of two freight corridors, the western DFC connecting the states of Haryana and Maharashtra and the eastern DFC connecting Punjab and West Bengal, is being undertaken.
The combined length of the western and eastern DFCs is approximately 2,843 km to be readied at an estimated cost of $11.38 billion. The aim is to make them fully operational by 2021.
The other four proposed corridors include North-South (Delhi-Tamil Nadu), East-West (West Bengal-Maharashtra), East-South (West Bengal-Andhra Pradesh) and South-South (Tamil Nadu-Goa). However, these are still in the planning stage.
In 2006, the Government of India established a dedicated body to implement the project, called the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL), which began building the eastern and western corridors simultaneously in three phases.
The DFC project is expected to reduce congestion at various terminals and junctions. It will also allow efficient and fast movement of freight along the corridor, share officials.
The eastern DFC plan covering Punjab, Haryana, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal includes construction of 104 bridges, 368 road-over-bridges (ROBs), 189 road-under-bridges (RUBs) and 21 flyovers. It also includes the reconstruction of nine existing ROBs and the extension of ten existing RUBs.
The western DFC plan covering Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and UP includes a 4 km-long tunnel, 262 bridges, 33 flyovers, 505 ROBs and 200 RUBs. The western corridor also includes the reconstruction of 24 existing ROBs and lengthening 10 existing RUBs.
