Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Monday flagged off the first dedicated Parcel Train from Budgam to Adarsh Nagar, New Delhi.
The Lieutenant Governor expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for ushering a new era of trade and business for apple growers and traders of the Valley.
“It will significantly reduce transit time and increase income opportunities for thousands of farmers and boost the agricultural economy of the region,” the Lieutenant Governor said.
He also congratulated the Indian Railways for dedicated freight train service between Budgam to New Delhi.
“The new freight train service is a big step for the apple growers of the Union Territory to transport their produce to different parts of the country. This will provide a faster and more economical transportation mode, strengthen market linkages and bring improvement in the lives and livelihoods of farmers,” he said.
Sinha said the disruption of movement at national highways, due to topography and heavy rains, causes damage to fruit growers. “The freight train service starting from today will transport apples and other perishable goods every day”.
The Parcel train Service (Joint Parcel Product-Rapid Cargo Service) will be operational on all days and is suitable for all parcel commodities. The eight-Parcel-van coach train has the total weight capacity of around 180 tonnes (23 tonnes each coach). The booking for full parcel vans is available in online mode, while smaller consignments can also be booked through off-line mode. The Freight train departing from Budgam at 6:15 a.m., will makes a stop at Bari Brahmana Jammu from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., and will arrive at Adarsh Nagar, New Delhi at 5:30 a.m., next day.
Javid Ahmad Dar, Minister for Agriculture Production, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Cooperative and Election Departments; Vivek Kumar, Divisional Railway Manager, Jammu; Dr Manoj Singh, Additional Member Railway Board (Marketing & Business Development); Anshul Garg, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir; VK Birdi, IGP Kashmir; Vivek Gupta, IGP Railways; Dr. Bilal Mohiuddin Bhat, Deputy Commissioner, Budgam; Dr GV Sundeep Chakravarthy, SSP Srinagar; Uchit Singhal, senior Divisional Commercial Manager and other senior officials of Railways, Civil and Police administration were present.