29 States, UTs covered under affordable air transportation of farm produce scheme: Scindia

As reported earlier by ETV Bharat, the government this month launched a pilot project to improve the first-mile connectivity of farm products from the hinterland parts of the north-eastern states.

New Delhi: As many as 29 states and union territories, including all states in the north-eastern region of the country, are now covered under the subsidized air carriage scheme for farm produce such as horticulture, fishery, livestock, and processed products, said the civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia.

The Centre launched the Krishi Udan 2.0 schemes on the lines of regional connectivity scheme – Ude Desh Ka Har Nagrik (RCS-Udan) to make air carriage of farm products affordable.

While the Udan scheme was launched in 2016, the second phase of the Krishi Udan scheme was launched in October 2021 to enhance the air transportation of perishable food items from the hilly areas such as north-eastern states and tribal areas.

Scindia said Krishi Udan Scheme is a convergence scheme where eight ministries and departments, such as the ministry of civil aviation, department of agriculture and farmers' welfare, department of animal husbandry and dairying, department of fisheries, ministry of food processing industries, department of commerce, ministry of tribal affairs, ministry of development of the north-eastern region (DoNER) leverage their existing schemes to strengthen the logistics for transportation of farm-produce.

The minister, however, clarified that there was no specific budget for Krishi Udan under the Scheme.

Affordable air-carriage of perishable items

In order to facilitate and incentivize the movement of farm-produce by air transportation, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) provides a full waiver of landing, parking, terminal navigation landing charges (TNLC), and route navigation facility charges (RNFC) for Indian freighters and P2C (passenger-to-cargo) aircraft primarily around 25 airports focusing on the northeastern, hilly and tribal region and 28 airports in other regions and areas.

Krishi Udan 2.0 covers 29 states, UTs

According to the reply given by Scindia in the Lok Sabha today, there are 29 states and UTs that are covered under the Krishi Udan 2.0 Scheme.

These are Andaman & Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal.

“All the airports in the NER States including Assam are covered under the Scheme. The main objective of the Krishi Udan Scheme 2.0 is to increase the share of air carriage in the modal mix for transportation of Agri-produce, which includes horticulture, fishery, livestock, and processed products,” the minister told the Lok Sabha.

The scheme aims to ensure seamless, cost-effective, time-bound air transportation and associated logistics for all Agri-produce originating especially from the North East (including Assam), hilly and tribal regions of the country, he said.

Pilot project to use drones for airlifting of farm produce

As reported earlier by ETV Bharat, the government this month launched a pilot project to improve the first-mile connectivity of farm products from the hinterland parts of the north-eastern states.

Under the project, the DPIIT officials tested a drone for air-lifting of turmeric from West Jaintia Hill districts in Meghalaya for the supply of processing units located in Kerala and other states.