Maiden ‘Kisan Rail’ takes 205 tonne of oranges to Delhi
   Date :15-Oct-2020

The Kisan Rail_1 &nb
 The ‘Kisan Rail’ leaving Nagpur Railway Station on Wednesday, after virtual flag-off by Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister. The train carries oranges from the region to markets in northern parts of the country.
 
Staff Reporter :
 
Opening new vista for farmers in the region, the first ‘Kisan Rail’ from the region was flagged off on Wednesday for New Delhi, carrying the first lot of 205 tonnes of oranges from Vidarbha for markets in Northern India. Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, showed green flag through video-link from New Delhi to the maiden venture of Indian Railways from Nagpur Railway Station. Speaking on the occasion, Gadkari said that the endeavour of Central Government was to double the income of farmers in the country.
 
Apart from reducing the transport cost, saving on time provides additional incentive for all involved -- cultivators, traders, and customers -- to benefit from competitive cost of the table fruit. Acknowledging help from Piyush Goyal, Railway Minister, Gadkari said that the ‘Kisan Rail’ would be game-changer. He underlined the strong contribution of agriculture sector to nation’s economy. Faster transport from farm to market would reduce wastage, which is a cause of concern in developing nation, and Railway is going to play a major role in transforming the scenario, he added. Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries has assured to provide aid for transporting fruits and vegetables to farmers at the time of registration. Thus, farmers will get 50 per cent subsidy, he said.
 
He urged the Railways to arrange refrigerated coaches at Dry Port in Wardha to enable farmers from Vidarbha to send their agriculture produce to JNPT in Mumbai for export. Krupal Tumane and Dr Vikas Mahatme, Members of Parliament, were present at the office of Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) here during the virtual flag-off. Ramdas Tadas, MP from Wardha, also joined in. Sanjeev Mittal, GM, Central Railway, and other senior officers joined from Mumbai Headquarters. A small film ‘Kisan Rail-Background’ was also shown. Gadkari also launched ‘Santra Kisan Railway’ website of Central Railway. ‘Kisan Rail’ was started in order to provide a seamless supply chain of agricultural and perishable produce.
 
Ministry of Railways introduced the first ‘Kisan Rail’ to run from Deolali to Danapur on August 8 and it was extended upto Muzaffarpur. The frequency was also increased to three days in a week due to good response from the farmers taking advantage to send their produce to Northern India. Train no 00101 Weekly Kisan Rail Nagpur departed at 6 pm to Adarsh Nagar, Delhi, where it will reach at 3.40 pm on Thursday. The regular service of Orange Kisan Rail will be notified soon. This train will have 10 parcel vans and one luggage-cum-brake van.
 
It will cover a distance of 1,106 kms approximately in 20 hours on a single trip and will halt at Katol, Narkhed, Pandhurna, Betul, Itarsi and Jhansi. Nagpur city and areas in Vidarbha are famous for oranges and other produce for which there is a huge demand in other markets. The ‘Kisan Rail’ will provide a good market to the farmers of Vidarbha. Central Railway is aggressively marketing it in co-ordination with local farmers, businessmen and APMC so that maximum farmers can benefit, said officials. Somesh Kumar, DRM, proposed a vote of thanks.