Detailed Monthly information for the month of May, 2020
Important Policy decisions taken and major achievements during the month:
1. MINISTRY OF CIVIL AVIATION
A. To support India’s fight against COVID-19 pandemic, MoCA has started
‘Lifeline Udan’ flights to transport essential medical supplies to various parts
of the country with a special focus on North East and hill states and islands.
(i) Majority of medical cargo was carried by Air India, Alliance Air and IAF.
Private carriers also pitched in whenever required. Pawan Hans Ltd
also carried essential medical supplies to the remote areas of J&K and
Ladakh.
(ii) Till 31
st
May 2020, a total of 940 tonnes of medical & essential cargo
was airlifted covering an aerial distance of 5,45,850 kilometers with
588 flights.
(iii) The status of 'Lifeline Udan' initiative as on 31
st
May 2020 is attached
as Annexure-I.
B. Governmental procurements of essential medical supplies were airlifted from
overseas using Air India (23 charters), Blue Dart Aviation (07 charters), and
Spice Express (03 charters).
C. Airlifting agri-produce for better value realization for farmers:
(i) In May 2020, approx. 284 domestic flights moved 1,400 MT of agri-
produce, while another 613 flights were used to export at least 7,000 MT
of agri-produce. This was achieved through a facilitative mechanism set
up involving stakeholders from the end-to-end domestic as well as
international supply chains. Farmers/farmer producer organizations and
exporters from India were approached directly, and linked up with freight
forwarders/ customs brokers, truckers, cargo terminal operators, and
airlines, besides governmental bodies like APEDA and MPEDA.
(ii) For the development of new markets for new Indian agri-produce in the
East and Far-East as well as Middle-East and Central Europe, besides in
the usual markets in Western Europe and the US, surplus producer States
and demand clusters were roped in to indicate their daily supply and
demand position. These origin-destination pairs were matched, and the
needs of the value chain in terms of grading, sorting, packaging
requirements as per rules and plant and animal quarantine certifications
required by the export destination were tied up through hands-on
facilitation.
(iii) Surplus producer States and demand clusters were roped in to indicate
their daily supply and demand position. These origin-destination pairs
were matched, and the needs of the value chain in terms of grading,
sorting, packaging requirements as per rules and plant and animal
quarantine certifications required by the export destination were tied up
through hands-on facilitation irrespective of mode of transport.