Kisan Rail, a blessing to farmers of Western Maharashtra, transports tonnes of nutritious and immunity boosting Pomegranate i.e. Anar to Northern India. So far in last one month transported more than 1100 tons. Farmers availing the benefit of the cheap and the fastest mode of transport are excited & happy as now the Kisan Rail is running thrice a week.
- Kisan Rail is becoming popular day by day with the farmers of Maharashtra. It transports perishable goods like Anar, Capsicum, Cauliflower, Lemon, Green chillies, Iced-Fish, live plants, Eggs and other vegetables from Sangola, Pandharpur, Kopargaon, Pune, Daund, Nashik, Manmad regions of Maharashtra. Out of the total perishable commodity transported by Kisan Rail so far, 1127.67 tonnes of Pomegranate were carried constituting about 61 percent of the perishable commodity.
- Started on 7th August 2020 as a weekly service from Devlali to Danapur and further extended upto Muzaffarpur and later attaching a link Rail at Manmad from Sangola/Pune, Kisan Rail is now running as a tri-weekly, shows the growing response from the Farmers.
- Pomegranate, the fruit have an impressive nutrient profile contains Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Folate, Potassium, etc. is being produced massively in western Maharashtra i.e Nashik, Pune and Solapur.
- According to National Horticultural Board, the data provided by the National Research Centre on Pomegranate, Solapur, the share of Maharashtra in total production is 62.91 %.
- Therefore, these huge produces are transported across India through road transport on trucks taking many days bearing huge cost, yielding low income for the farmers.
- Introduced by the Ministry of Railways with the support of Ministry of Agriculture Kisan Rail has brought hope & opportunity for the farmers to increase their income with faster mode of transport, fresh delivery of perishables, with no restriction on quantity, cheaper than road and saving huge transport costs including tolls.
- Officials of Akhil Maharashtra Dalimb Utpadak Sanshodhan Sangh, Pune expressed happiness that Kisan Rail by the Ministry of Railways has reduced the time as compared to other modes of transportation and since fresh goods are going to the market in less time, the demand for the fruits is looking good and yielding benefit to the farmers.
More About Kisan Rail:
- The inaugural run of the country’s first ‘Devlali-Danapur Kisan Rail’ was flagged off on 07 Aug 2020 through a Video Conference in the presence of Union Minister of Railways, Commerce & Industry Shri Piyush Goyal.
- In the Union Budget 2020-21, Union Minister of Finance Smt Nirmala Sitharaman had made an announcement to build a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables, inclusive of milk, meat and fish and it was also stated that the Indian Railways will set up a Kisan Rail through PPP arrangements.
- Kisan Rail shall be trains with multi commodities, multi-consignors and multi consignees.
- These trains shall run between fixed Origin–Destination pairs with en-route stoppages, and loading/ unloading shall be permitted at any of the en-route stoppage.
- The Origin–Destination pairs, routes, stoppages, and frequency of the train shall be decided jointly by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare and Ministry of Railways.
- Indian Railways will plan to run the trains accordingly.
Second Kisan Rail flagged off:
South India’s First and country’s second “Kisan Rail” was flagged off from Anantapur (Andhra Pradesh) to Adarsh Nagar (New Delhi) on 9th September, 2020.
- The newly introduced Kisan Rail starts from Anantapur Railway Station in Andhra Pradesh and reaches Adarsh Nagar Station, New Delhi.
- The inaugural Kisan Rail loaded with Tomato, Bananas, Sweet Orange, Papaya, Muskmelons and Mangoes.
- The train provides fast transport connectivity between Anantapur to New Delhi with the distance of 2150 Km being covered in approximately 40 hours.
- Anantapur is fast becoming the Fruit Bowl of Andhra Pradesh. More than 80% of the 58 lakh MT of fruits & vegetables in the district is marketed out of the state, particularly to the north Indian States of Delhi, UP, Punjab and Haryana among others.
- Earlier this was being transported by roadways which was not only time taking but also leading to reduction in price realisation of the farmers due to enroute damages. Transportation by railway provides a safe, reliable and fast transportation which will aid in better price realisation for the farmers and thereby helping in better incomes for the farmers and traders.
- The Railway team at Guntakal (particularly the newly set up Business Development Unit) along with the cooperation of the District Administration and State Government Officials have played a crucial role in making the farmers/traders aware of the benefits in loading by railways, which led to today’s inaugural rail.
Source: Central Railway-Press Release
