58 airports have been included in the Krishi Udan 2.0 scheme so far, according to the information provided by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Gen (Dr) V K Singh in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
The scheme seeks to enable efficient, timely, and cost-effective air transportation for all agricultural products, particularly those coming from the country's North-East, hilly, and tribal areas.
53 airports were initially included in the pilot project which ran for nearly six months. Following that, five more airports were included, bringing the total number of airports covered to be 58.
The entire list of the airports includes - Adampur, Agartala, Agatti, Agra, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Bareli, Bhuj, Bhuntar, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Gaggal, Goa, Gorakhpur, Hindon, Imphal, Indore, Jaisalmer, Jammu, Jamnagar, Jodhpur, Jorhat, Kanpur, Kolkata, Leh, Lengpui, Lilabari, Nashik, Pakyong, Pantnagar, Pathankot, Patna, Pithoragarh, Port-Blair, Prayagraj, Pune, Raipur, Rajkot, Ranchi, Rupsi, Shillong, Shimla, Silchar, Srinagar, Tezpur, Tezu, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruchirappalli, Varanasi, Visakhapatnam, Belagavi, Bhopal, Darbhanga, Jabalpur and Jharsuguda.
Here's all that you need to know about Krishi Udan Scheme 2.0:
On October 27, 2021, the Krishi Udan Scheme 2.0 was unveiled, improving upon the previous provisions and primarily focusing on the transportation of perishable food items from mountainous regions, North-Eastern States, and tribal territories.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) offers full waivers of Landing, Parking, Terminal Navigational Landing Charges (TNLC), and Route Navigation Facility Charges (RNFC) for Indian freighters and P2C (Passenger-to-Cargo) Aircraft in order to facilitate and encourage the movement of agricultural products by air transportation.
In addition to 28 airports in other regions/areas, the project principally includes roughly 25 airports with a concentration on the North Eastern, Hilly, and Tribal region. Five additional airports have been added after Krishi Udan 2.0 was evaluated, bringing the total to 58 airports.
Under the Krishi Udan Scheme, eight Ministries or Departments including - the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Department of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairy, the Department of Fisheries, the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, the Department of Commerce, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, and the Ministry of Development of the North-Eastern Region, will pool their resources and existing programmes to improve the logistics for transporting agricultural products.
However, no precise budgetary allocation exists at the moment for the scheme.
The primary goal of the Krishi Udan Scheme 2.0 is to enhance the proportion of air transportation in the mix of modes used to move agricultural goods, which also includes items from horticulture, fisheries, livestock, and processed goods. The programme helps farmers to transport their produce in order to increase the value of their output.
The air transportation of 'King Chilies', 'Burmese Grapes' & 'Assamese Lemon' from Gauwahati; 'Jackfruit' from Tripura; and 'Litchi' from Darbhanga are few successful examples of this scheme.
