Dr Lorho writes to Union Civil Aviation Minister

Our Correspondent
Senapati, Dec 14: Member of Parliament Outer Manipur Dr Lorho S Pfoze has written a letter to the Union Minister of Civil Aviation on November 27, 2021, urging the Ministry to provide subsidized transport fare for evacuation of agriculture/horticulture/handloom/handicraft products of Northeastern States to different Airports.
Dr Lorho in his letter highlighted the fact that despite Government of India’s push for local products, the premium market of fruit and vegetables in cosmopolitan cities of Delhi/Mumbai/Hyderabad/Bengaluru were flooded with imported varieties.
"The North East has not been linked to the right producer in paying markets due lack of organizations/proper training to producers, lack of proper logistics to nearest airport evacuation point, lack of technology to scientifically manage the supply chain", it added.
The MP also informed that if the project is executed in mission mode, Government of India can showcase the following before next Lok Sabha elections like catapulting economic stabilization of 50,000 women who can be role model for others in the society, showcase a model for vocal for local, save forex used for import of fruits and vegetables and provide fillip to local peripheral development in terms of jobs created for logistics, packaging, remove agri-tourism home stays in North East.
Meanwhile, replying to the letter written by Dr Lorho S Pfoze, the Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya M Scindia on December 13 informed that Krishi Udan Scheme 1.0 was launched in August 2020, to assist farmers in transporting agriculture products on international and national routes, so as to improve their value realization.
The letter stated that Krishi Udan Scheme 2.0 was launched in October 2021, mainly focusing on transportation of perishable food products from the hilly areas, North-Eastern states and tribal areas.
It mentioned that the scheme aims to ensure seamless, cost-effective, time-bound air transportation and associated logistics for all Agri-produce originating, especially, from Northeast, hilly and tribal regions of the country.
The Minister further informed that under Krishi Udan scheme, Airports authority of India (AAI) provides waiver of landing, parking, terminal navigation landing charges (TNLC) and route navigation facility charges (RNFC) for Indian Freighters and P2C (passenger-to-Cargo) aircraft at primarily around 25 airports in North eastern region, hilly and tribal region and at 28 airports in other areas.
The 25 selected airports included Imphal, Dimapur, Jorhat, Barapani, and Agartala among others.