Govt launches Krishi Udaan 2.0 scheme, 53 airports operated by AAI covered

Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia launched launched Krishi Udaan 2.0 scheme on October 27

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) launched the Krishi UDAN scheme to focus on transporting perishable food products from the hilly areas, northeastern states and tribal areas.

Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia while launching the scheme on October 27 said, "Krishi UDAN 2.0 will help solve the problem of wastage of agricultural food wastes in the country".

He assured that the government is committed to doubling farmers income and for doing this there needs to be a paradigm shift. "Doubling farmers income doesn't mean only increasing the value in the market for the produce but it also means creating a paradigm shift for the farmers".

Under Krishi UDAN 2.0 MoCA will provide a full waiver of landing, parking, Terminal Navigation and Landing Charges and Route Navigation Facilities Charges for domestic airlines.

The ministry will setup terminals in Leh, Srinagar, Nagpur, Nashik, Ranchi Bagdogra, Raipur and Guwahati. It has selected 53 airports to be covered under the scheme which will be majorly operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Along with this eight domestic and international trade routes will also be started under the scheme, Scindia informed. The routes include Amritsar-Dubai to transport baby corn, Darbhanga and the rest of India to transport Lychees and Sikkim and the rest of India for organic produce.

The government will also work towards setting up a trade route between Chennai, Vizag and Kolkata and East Asian countries to transport seafood. Other routes include Agartala-Delhi-Dubai for Pineapple, Dibrugarh-Delhi-Dubai for Mandarin Oranges and Guwahati to Hong Kong for pulses, fruits and vegetables.

The ministry has asked states to reduce sales tax on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) to 1 percent for airlines under Krishi UDAN 2.0.

The ministry along with AAI will setup up a hub and spoke model at Agartala, Srinagar, Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Hubbali, Imphal, Jorhat, Lilabari, Lucknow, Silchar, Tezpur, Tirupati and Tuticorin in 2021-22.

In 2022-23, they will develop a hub and spoke models to transport perishable products in Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Jharsuguda, Kozhikode, Mysuru, Puducherry, Rajkot, and Vijayawada, in 2023-24, Agra, Darbhanga, Gaya, Gwalior, Pakyong, Pantnagar, Shillong, Shimla, Udaipur and Vadodara and in 2024-25, Holangi and Salem will be covered.