India News | 1000th Trip of Kisan Rail on Central Railway Flagged off

New Delhi, Feb 3 (PTI) Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw along with Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, flagged off the 1000th trip of the Kisan Rail on Central Railway from Savda, Maharashtra to Adarsh Nagar, Delhi, virtually on Thursday.

The train had 23 coaches in which 453 tonnes of banana were transported. So far, 3.45 lakh tonnes of farm produce has been transported in 1,000 Kisan Rail from Central Railway.

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While addressing the gathering, Tomar said India is agriculture-oriented and the government has implemented a number of initiatives for the betterment of farmers.

"The transportation of perishables such as fruits and vegetables to markets at distant places at reasonable cost to get better price through Kisan Rail was one such scheme," he said.

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"I am very happy to be present on this occasion of flagging off of 1000th trip of Kisan Rail on Central Railway as I was present on the occasion of flagging off of the first Kisan Rail and 100th Kisan Rail at the hands of the prime minister," he added.

Vaishnaw said the Kisan Rail was a part of the government's focus on the betterment of farmers.

"Kisan Rail is one such initiative which allows farmers to transport their agriculture produce to distant market places economically and quickly," he said, mentioning how the banana of Jalgaon got the GI-tag.

The first Kisan Rail was flagged off from Devlali (Maharashtra) to Danapur (Bihar) by Tomar and Piyush Goyal, the then Minister of Railways. This train has subsequently been extended to run between Devlali (Maharashtra) and Muzaffarpur (Bihar). The 100th trip of Kisan Rail -- from Sangola (Maharashtra) to Shalimar (West Bengal) -- was flagged-off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 28, 2020.

During 2021-22, more than 750 trips of Kisan Rail have been run carrying 2.7 lakh tonnes and earning a revenue of Rs 103 crore. Since inception, Kisan Rail trips have transported 3.45 lakh tonnes and generated a revenue of Rs.132.67 crore.

Pomegranate, grapes, lemon, capsicum, musk melon, guava, custard apple, ber (Indian Plum) from Solapur region, flowers from Latur and Osmanabad region, onions from Nashik region, banana from Bhusaval and Jalgaon region, oranges from Nagpur region and other fruits and vegetables reach distant markets like Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal quickly and freshly through Kisan Rail.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)