Government has launched the Krishi Udan scheme, under which perishable food products from north-eastern states, hilly states and tribal regions will be transported.
Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia said while launching the scheme that it will address the long-standing problem of wastage of agricultural products.
Under the scheme, the ministry for civil aviation will give complete waiver of landing, parking, landing charges and route navigation facilities charges to domestic carriers.
It will set up terminals in Leh, Srinagar, Nagpur, Nashik, Ranchi Bagdogra, Raipur and Guwahati for flights carrying food items. In addition to this, the ministry has selected 53 airports to be covered under the scheme which will be majorly operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Mr Scindia said that eight domestic and international trade routes will also be started under the scheme for carriage of perishable food items, namely 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.
He assured that the government is committed to doubling farmers income and for doing this there needs to be a paradigm shift.
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 also directed states to reduce sales tax on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) to 1 per cent for airlines under the new scheme.
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