Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the 100th Kisan Rail (farmers’ train), which will ply between Maharashtra and West Bengal, on Monday afternoon. The train that will transport farm produce including vegetables and fruits will operate between Sangola in Maharashtra and Shalimar in West Bengal. Farmers will be able to book kilograms to tonnes of produce as per requirement, and there will be no minimum or maximum size of consignment required for transportation on the train.
Loading and unloading of perishable commodities will be permitted at all stoppages en route with no bar on the size of consignment, it said, adding that the Centre has extended a 50-per cent subsidy on the transportation of fruits and vegetables. Narendra Singh Tomar, agriculture and farmer welfare minister, and Piyush Goyal, railways, commerce and consumer affairs, food and public distribution minister, will be present at the flagging off through video conferencing. “The Kisan Rail was announced in the budget. It provides a seamless supply chain of perishable produce”, said Shivaji Sutar, chief public relations officer, Central Railways. The Indian railways operated its first Kisan Rail between Devlali in Maharashtra and Danapur in Bihar in August. The train was extended up to Muzaffarpur in Bihar. The train was initially operated weekly but later on began operating thrice a week. Later, dedicated trains for carrying orange produce from Nagpur in Maharashtra were also operated in October.
