Kisan Rail is a step towards making farmers more prosperous – Shri Piyush Goyal

New Delhi:7/8/20; Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar flagged off the inaugural run of ‘Devlali-Danapur Kisan Rail’ today through Video Conference in the presence of Union Minister of Railways, Commerce & Industry Shri Piyush Goyal who presided over the function. Union Minister of Finance Smt Nirmala Sitharaman had made an announcement in the Union Budget 2020-21 to build a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables, inclusive of milk, meat, and fish and it was also stated that the Indian Railways will set up a Kisan Rail through PPP arrangements.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar said that Kisan Rail will help transport the produce of farmers to different parts of the country at a nominal cost, thus the farmer will benefit, this will help in achieving the vision of the Prime Minister of doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022. Shri Tomar thanked Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for his vision of strengthening the transportation network across the country with a special emphasis on the transportation of perishable goods in a time-bound manner. He said that due to the non-availability of transportation, the farmers are not getting remunerative prices for their farm produce and appreciated the efforts of Ministry of Railways to start Kisan Rail in the wake of the difficult COVID pandemic situation.

Shri Piyush Goyal mentioned that the first rail was run in 1853 from Bori Bundar to Thane and now the first Kisan Rail is being run in 2020 by the Government of India under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The Government has launched a PM KISAN scheme in which Rs. 6000/- are being given to farmers’ families and other many schemes/ programmes in order to double the farmers’ income. Ministry of Railways is also working for increasing food chain supply so that farmers could get higher prices for their crops.

The flagging off ceremony was held in the presence of  Shri Suresh Angadi, Union Minister of State for Railways, Shri Raosaheb Danve, Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Shri Purshottam Rupala and Shri Kailash Choudhary, Union Ministers of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Leader of Opposition, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Shri Chhagan Bhujbal, Minister of Food, Civil Supply and Consumer Protection, Govt. of Maharashtra. The Secretary (AC&FW), Member Traffic (Ministry of Railways), and other officers of the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Ministry of Railways were present during the event.