The second Kisan Rail with 10 bogies for Delhi and two bogies for Nagpur is all set to leave Anantapur railway station at midnight carrying 240 metric tonnes of fruits and vegetables.
Not many farmers were interested to send the produce, but the administration talked to a few traders and arranged over 214 tonnes of tomatoes, 24 tonnes of papaya, 3.5 tonnes of pomogranate, 2.5 tonnes of water melon and musk melon to be sent to the cities. While 40 tonnes of them will be unloaded at Nagpur, the train will proceed to Delhi to despatch the produce to traders in Azadpur Mandi.
‘Tricky business’
Officials who had taken the ride the first time said it was a tricky business for farmers as the rate is fixed on the basis of the quality of the goods on reaching the mandi and an auction takes place for the final fixing of price. With some tomatoes coming from Nasik also, which are of better quality and need lesser transport cost, the produce being sent in the current Kisan Rail would be required to be sold at a very competitive price.
District Collector Gandham Chandrudu, who inspected the loading operations at the Anantapur railway station, said farmers were encouraged to send their produce as there existed a large market in Delhi, and Anantapur produced very large quantum of fruits of which only 20% is consumed locally.
However, the traders opined that the current season was not suitable for sending tomatoes as it was raining for the past 10 days and in the local market itself, the price was high due to poor grade of the produce. The District Collector, however, alleged that some persons with active support of influential people were bent on stopping the Kisan Rail from becoming a regular affair.
