Kisan Rail Scheme gets transportation subsidy as well
Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Rural Development, Agriculture & Farmer Welfare, Panchayati Raj and Food Processing Industries, on October 14, 2020, said that under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, Operation Greens Scheme from Tomato, Onion and Potato (TOP) to all fruits & vegetables (TOTAL), provides 50 per cent subsidy on transport and storage of notified fruits and vegetables if prices of such fruits or vegetables are below the trigger price.
In addition to direct submission of online claim to MoFPI, the transportation subsidy would also be available under Kisan Rail Scheme under a very simplified way. Any person, including farmers can transport any notified fruits and vegetable crops through Kisan Rails. Railways would charge only 50 per cent of freight charges on these fruits and vegetables. Remaining 50 per cent of the freight charges will be provided as subsidy under Operation Greens Scheme by MoFPI to the Indian Railways. The revised Scheme Guidelines has been uploaded on the Ministry’s website on October 12, 2020.
At present Railways is operating three Kisan Rails between Devlali (Maharashtra) and Muzaffarpur (Bihar), Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh to Delhi, Bangalore to Delhi and plans to start fourth Kisan Rail from Nagpur and Warud Orange City in Maharashtra to Delhi.
