With the overall improvement inCovid-19pandemic situation in the country, railways has decided to give 50% subsidy to farmers to transport their perishable agricultural products outside Bihar by parcel cargo Kisan Rail air- conditioned (AC) express trains.
These special trains are running from different places falling under the jurisdiction of the East Central RAILWAY (ECR) to Maharashtra, New Delhi and other places enabling farmers to transport their agricultural products like vegetables, fruits, flowers, fish, meat, milk and other products outside the state.
According to the CPRO, railways is charging Rs 404 per quintal for booking vegetables and fruits from Muzaffarpur to Devlali. But it is hardly Rs 212 per quintal after giving 50 per cent subsidy. “Similarly railways charge Rs 205 per quintal between Danapur and Devlali, Rs 205 per quintal between Muzaffarpur and Manmad and Rs 144 per quintal betweenPatnaand New Delhi and Rs 65 per quintal between Patna and Howrah on vegetables and fruits only, he said.
These parcel cargo Kisan Rail trains are running with the load combination of at least 11 parcel vans which include frozen containers. Railways has fixed tariff for each item per ton freight loading based on the distance.