UP targets 5 million MGNREGS jobs as returning migrants numbers swell

Nearly 1.5 million such labourers are likely to enter the state; CM Adityanath hasks officials to treat them with dignity

In the backdrop of nearly 1.5 million migrant labourers expected to return owing to lockdown, the Uttar Pradesh government is planning to ramp up jobs under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to 5 million to absorb the influx.

While estimated half a million migrants had returned to UP during lockdown 1.0 in March, nearly as many have also been recently brought back through the institutional channels of trains and buses.

The homecoming of the remaining stranded migrants continues with average 40 trains arriving