New Delhi (NVI): Indian Railways will introduce country’s first Kisan Rail, a special parcel train to supply perishable products, between Maharashtra’s Devlali and Bihar’s Danapur from tomorrow on weekly basis, the Ministry of Railways said.
The train from Devlali will start at 11 am on August 7 and will reach Danapur the next day at 6.45 pm, covering a distance of 1519 kilometres in about 32 hours.
It will be flagged off by Union Agriculture Minister, Narendra Singh Tomar and Minister of Railways, Piyush Goyal through video conferencing.
In a official statement the Ministry said that, the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget 2020-21 had mentioned the Kisan Rail project.
The government had proposed that to build a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables, inclusive of milk, meat and fish, the Indian Railways will set up a Kisan Rail, it added.
It will provide seamless supply chain of perishable products. This train is a step towards realizing the goal of doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022 and Railways aims to help double farmers’ income with the launch of Kisan Rail.
Furthermore, Kisan Rail will help in bringing perishable agricultural products like vegetables, fruits to the market in a short period of time. The train with frozen containers is expected to build a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables, inclusive of fish, meat and milk.
According to Indian Railways, over the Central Railway zone, the Bhusawal Division is primarily an Agro-based division. The city of Nasik and its surrounding region produces a huge quantity of fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, onions, other perishables, as well as other agro products. Mainly, these perishable items are transported to areas around Allahabad, Patna, Satna, Katni, etc.
The Kisan Rail special parcel service has been provided scheduled halts at Nasik Road, Jalgaon, Manmad, Bhusaval, Burhanpur, Itarsi, Khandwa, Jabalpur, Satna, Katni, Prayagraj Chheoki, Manikpur, Buxar and Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Nagar.
However, it is being expected that the Kisan Rail train service will be patronized well and also, it will be a great help to farmers, as the freight of this train service will be charged at ‘P’ Scale, the ministry added.
-RJV
