Bhubaneswar, Jul 20 (PTI) The East Coast Railway (ECoR) has carried 7,000 tonnes of parcel, including fruits and vegetables, medicines and medical equipment, in the first quarter of the current fiscal, through special parcel express trains, during the lockdown.

The parcels carried by the special trains between April and June included 6,160 tonnes of essential commodities, 31 tonnes of medicine and 20 tonnes of medical equipment, an ECoR statement said.

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Traditionally, a major share of parcel traffic is carried in regular trains. During the lockdown, timetabled parcel trains were operated as a new concept as regular train services were suspended, it said.

"This was done to ensure uninterrupted supply of essential commodities so that people do not face any scarcity of essential items during the lockdown," it said.

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During this period, parcel traffic has emerged as a preferred mode for carrying essential items such as fruits and vegetables, milk, edible oil, grocery items, medicine and medical equipment, PPEs, sugar and salt to different parts of the country.

This situation was very critical for farmers because sending their produce to the market became a challenge, the statement said adding that the ECoR came forward to help them in these testing times and 4,376 tonnes of fruits and vegetables were transported to various markets.

This includes 4,345 tonnes of mango from Andhra Pradesh to markets in Delhi, the statement said.

A total of 824 tonnes of fish were also carried to various places from coastal regions.

Apart from this, 673 tonnes of other essential commodities have been transported to different destinations, it said.

(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)