(a) whether the Railways have proposed that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds are to be used for removing unmanned level crossings across the country;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) the time by which the proposal is likely to be implemented;
(d) whether target has been fixed to remove all unmanned level crossings in the country; and
(e) if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS(SHRI MANOJ SINHA)
(a) to (c): Ministry of Railways have requested Ministry of Rural Development to include the work of elimination of unmanned level crossings by Road Over Bridges (ROBs)/Road Under Bridges (RUBs)/other measures in their illustrative list of works under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA). Regarding deployment of Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds for elimination of unmanned level crossings, policy already exists.
(d) and (e): It is the endeavor of Railways to eliminate all unmanned level crossings by Manning/ Closure / Merger and Provision of Subways/RUBs. In the last three years and upto January of current year, 4454 unmanned level crossings have been eliminated from Indian Railway network.