New Delhi: Forty-nine districts across eight states - Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, UP and West Bengal - contribute a major share of construction workers engaged in highway projects across the country, according to a mapping of labour origins carried out by the National Highways Authority of India.In a first-of-its-kind exercise, NHAI has collated details up to the village level from where workers travel to highway construction sites, in a move to provide targeted skill training to these labourers. Training of people working at project sites is crucial," said an official.Officials said PM Modi recently directed the road transport ministry to undertake a focused skill development drive for labourers and supervisory staff by launching dedicated training courses.TOI has learned that a detailed framework is being prepared to train workers from these identified localities, and prominent ITIs, diploma colleges and engineering institutes have been shortlisted for the purpose. The local NHAI project director will be in charge of implementation to ensure effective execution," an official said.He added that once trained, the workers will be able to get works anywhere and a better wage as well.Meanwhile, the highways authority is also preparing video training capsules on 50-60 topics that can be used to train workers.
Author: Dipak K Dash
Published at: 2026-01-31 21:25:54
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