This was proposed at a high-level meeting held by Union railway minister Piyush Goyal with senior ministry officials. Indian Railways may generate employment for the migrants by tapping resources under MGNREGA for minor construction work. Railways mostly employs skilled labourers through 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.

Railways asked various 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.