Govt appoints 116 senior bureaucrats as nodal officers for PM Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan

As many as 116 senior bureaucrats have been appointed as central nodal officers for achieving objectives of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan, the government's ambitious employment-cum-rural public works campaign for migrant workers affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

These bureaucrats of the level of Joint Secretary are drawn from different services, including the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Forest Service (IFoS) among others.

“The nodal officers will work in close collaboration with state government officials and district magistrates/collectors/deputy commissioners as per the guidelines of the Abhiyaan, being issued by the Department of Rural Development separately,” an order issued by the Personnel Ministry said.

It may be noted that the nodal officers would be required to discharge their duties through VCs, digital maps etc, details of which may be confirmed from the Department of Rural Development, it said.

Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officers Vivek Aggarwal and Hari Ranjan Rao have been appointed nodal officers for the state’s Bhind and Alirajpur districts. Aggarwal and Rao are posted as Joint Secretary in the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, and the Department of Telecommunications, respectively.

IAS officer Partha Sarthi Sensharma has been appointed as the central nodal officer for Uttar Pradesh’s Hardoi district. He is at present Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.

Senior bureaucrat Abhishek Singh will be the nodal officer for Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh district. Singh is the Chief Executive Officer of MyGov India, the government's citizen-centric online platform.

Subodh Kumar Singh has been made nodal officer for UP’s Ayodhya district. Singh, a 1997 batch IAS officer of Chhattisgarh cadre, is at present Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Saturday launched the campaign to empower and provide livelihood opportunities in areas/villages witnessing large number of returnee migrant workers affected by the devastating COVID-19.

The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan (GKRA) of 125 days will involve focused implementation of 25 categories of works/activities in 116 districts, each with a large concentration of returnee migrant workers in six states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha.

Public works to be undertaken during this campaign will have a resource envelope of Rs 50,000 crore.

The 25 works or projects are related to meet the needs of villages like rural housing for the poor, plantations, provision of drinking water through Jal Jeevan mission, panchayat bhavans, community toilets, rural mandis, rural roads, other infrastructure like cattle sheds, anganwadi bhavans among others.

The program will be a convergent effort between 12 different ministries/departments, namely Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Road Transport and Highways, Mines, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Environment, Railways, Petroleum and Natural Gas, New and Renewable Energy, Border Roads, Telecom and Agriculture, to expedite implementation of 25 public infrastructure works and works relating to augmentation of livelihood opportunities.

A workshop through video conferencing is being organised on Friday, which will be addressed by the Secretary, Rural Development and secretaries of concerned ministries/departments, the Personnel Ministry order said.

“All nodal officers are required to attend the workshop in which the tasks involved will be explained in detail,” it added.