Minister of Commerce and Industry and Railways, Piyush Goyal, has reviewed the draft National Logistics Policy. The minister proposed an action plan for the implementation of the policy prepared by the Department of Logistics, which comes under the Commerce Ministry. “The draft policy has been prepared in consultation with the ministries of railways, road transport and highways, shipping, and civil aviation. Forty-six partnering government agencies (PGAs) inputs were analysed in detail for consideration in the policy,” the commerce ministry said in a statement. In the meeting, all aspects of logistics related to railways, civil aviation, shipping and inland waterways, road transport, ropeways warehousing and cold chain were discussed in detail.

He also said that a central scheme for cold chain across the country, especially for fruits, vegetables and perishables, may be made part of the action plan of the draft logistics policy so that it improves efficiency and reduces the loss of farmer’s produce. During the review meeting issues relating to rail freight rationalization and freight policy for dedicated freight corridor, having immediate implications for modal shift, were discussed at length.