PM Modi to flag off 100th Kisan Rail today

The train that will transport farm produce including vegetables and fruits will operate between Sangola in Maharashtra and Shalimar in West Bengal

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the 100th Kisan Rail (farmers’ train), which will ply between Maharashtra and West Bengal, on Monday afternoon.

Prime minister Narendra Modi. (PTI)

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. The railways have permitted the loading and unloading of perishable goods on all halts.

A 50% subsidy has been offered by the Government of India 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.