100th Kisan Rail of India

The Hundredth Kisan Rail of India was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 28, 2020.

About the Hundredth Kisan Rail

• The train runs between Sangola in Maharashtra and Shalimar in West Bengal.
• The train carries vegetables such as capsicum, cauliflower, cabbage, chillies, drumsticks, onions.
• It also carries fruits such as oranges, grapes, bananas, pomegranates, custard apples, etc.

Background

The first multi-commodity service of Kisan Rail was launched in August 2020. The service was alunched between Devlali in Maharashtra and Danapur in Bihar. It was then extended to Muzaffarpur. Since its launch, the Kisan Rail Service has transported 27,000 tonnes of agro-products. The Government of India has extended a subsidy of 50% on the transportation of fruits and vegetables.

About Kisan Rail

The idea of Kisan Rail was proposed during the Union Budget 2020-21. The Kisan Rail Scheme aimed to build National Cold supply chain for perishables such as milk, meat, fish, fruits and vegetables. It comprises of refrigerated coaches in freight and express trains.

In order to achieve this, the Indian Railways has developed refrigerated parcel vans with carrying capacity of 17 tonnes. These parcel vans were procured through the Rail Coach Factory Kapurthala. The Indian Railways currently has nine such refrigerated vans. They can be booked on a round trip basis. The charge of these vans is 1.5 times the charge of normal freight train.

In order to transport fruits and vegetable, the Indian Railways has procured Reefer Rail containers. They are ventilated and insulated containers. They have carrying capacity of twelve tonnes per container.

Krishi Udan

The Krishi Udan was proposed along with Kisan Rail in the Union Budget 2020-21. The Krishi Udan will operate under Ministry of Civil Aviation. It will transport perishable goods on national and international routes. It also less accessible areas such as tribal districts and the north east.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2020