KisanRail and Temperature Controlled Storages will soon start in Bihar to transport agricultural products.

Agriculture and the railways are the two pillars of the Indian Economy for a very long time. Both sectors had their own significance.

And now, they are going to be interconnected through a new initiative taken by the Indian Government named “KisanRail” and “KisanUdaan“. Union Budget 2020-2021 was presented by the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman on 1 February 2020. In which she said, ” Indian Railways will set up Kisan Rail through PPP arrangement, for transportation of perishable goods “. “Comprehensive measures for 100 water-stressed districts being proposed in this budget; agriculture credit target has been set at Rs 15 lakh crore,” she added.

The government plans to build a cold supply chain for peripheral goods. For that, the Indian Railways will set up KisanRail, a special refrigerator rail service, under the private-public partnership (PPP) model launched by MoCA on international and national routes for speedy transport of peripheral farm produced, inclusive of milk, meat, and fish. This initiative will directly help farmers to sell their products in different parts of the country and can be reached to a large number of customers. The plan also focussed on doubling their income. Bihar will also be benefited from this plan. Bihar’s most famous Hazipur banana, Bhagalpur special katarni chawal, Rohtas’ Govind Bhogh chawal, Mithila’s Makhana, and many more will be easily transported in different parts of India. And this will only be possible because of the Kisan Rail initiative. Poor farmers will also be provided with warehouse facilities by the government to prevent their crops.

The new design of Refrigerated Parcel Vans (VPR, carrying capacity of 17 tonnes) for transportation of highly perishable parcel traffic was developed and procured through Rail Coach Factory Kapurthala. At present, the Indian Railway has a fleet of nine (09) Refrigerated Parcel Vans available. These Refrigerated Parcel Vans are booked on a round-trip basis and are charged at 1.5 times the freight of normal VP as per the category of the train. Ninty-eight Ventilated Insulated Containers (Carrying capacity 12 Tonnes per container, rake composition 80 containers) have been procured, through CONCOR, for the movement of fruits and vegetables to different parts of the country. ‘Temperature controlled perishable cargo centres’ have been commissioned at Ghazipur Ghat (U.P), New Azadpur (Adarsh Nagar, Delhi) and Raja ka Talab (U.P) as a pilot project under Kisan Vision Project by CONCOR under CSR initiative. Another project is under construction at Lasalgaon, Nasik (Maharashtra).

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Approval has been granted to Central Railside Warehousing Corporation (CRWC) to develop temperature controlled storages at Fatuha and Mancheswar in the state of Bihar. The cold storage facility has also been developed at Dadri. Fresh & Healthy Enterprise Ltd. (FHEL) has been redeveloped as Agriculture Logistic Center at Rai, Sonepat. This facility is CONCOR’s 100% own subsidiary developed in an area of 16.40 acres of land.

This plan is definitely going to help the weaker section of Indian society. It will also help to regain the proud of Indian Farmer as well as make a transformation in the growth of their income.

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