Jamshedpur : Tourism minister Amar Bauri today review preparations for flagging off of Mukhyamantri Teerth Darshan Yojana. He went to Tatanagar railway station and also met district officials for the event.
Chief minister Raghubar Das will flag off a special train for Malatipatpur (in Puri) from Tatanagar railway station on November 18.
According to officials of railways the train will carry 1000 senior citizens, both men and women , belonging to the BPL category selected from three districts- East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum and Seraikela Kharsawan- of Kolhan.
Notably, in September this year the state government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) for kick-starting the chief minister’s Mukhyamantri Teerth Darshan Yojana allowing senior citizens belonging to the BPL category to visit religious sites by train at state’s expenses.
The development deputy development commissioner of East Singhbhum, Binod Kumar today said that the selection of the pilgrims have been made from various blocks of the three districts. ” We have allowed 500 senior citizens under BPL category from East Singhbhum, 300 of them have been selected from West Singhbhum and the rest 200 from Seraikela-Kharsawan district,” said Kumar.
Railway authorities informed that the train carrying the pilgrims will leave Tatanagar railway station on November 18 at 9.05 pm. The train will reach Malatipatpur in Puri the next day at 12.15 pm. The return train will leave Malatipatpur on November 20 at 11.30 in the night and it will reach Tatanagar the next day at 3.15 pm.
O P Sharma, station manager at Tatanagar said that the initiative has been taken under Mukhyamantri Teerth Darshan Yojana.The special train will arrive at the Tatanagar railway station from Ranchi in a day or two. He added that they are taking all necessary measures including safety and security for the passengers.
He said that the train which will travel via Chakradharpur, Rourkela, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Angul and Khurda Road before reaching its destination will not have any special medical facility, but necessary support will be provided at the stations.
At the religious sites in Puri, the devotees will be accompanied by guides and paramedics.
Several important trains travel via Tatanagar, including the high-profile Rajdhani Express and Duronto Express. The station sees a daily traffic of 90 mail, express and passenger trains, besides a footfall of more than 60,000 passengers.