Bhubaneswar: The Special Train under, ‘Barista Nagarika Tirtha Yatra Yojana’, from Bhubaneswar to Prayagraj and Varanasi started its journey on Friday. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik attended the train departure event over video conference and wished the elderly travellers a happy and safe journey.
The programme was stopped for over two years due to COVID. This year, following its resumption, the Government has made a provision for sending 7,000 elderly citizens on pilgrimage.
The CM urged the pilgrims to seek blessings of Lord Vishwanath for family, friends and people of Odisha.
Travel fare, accommodation, fooding, healthcare and other miscellaneous facilities will be borne by the State Government under this program. The train left Bhubaneswar station at 12:45 pm. There were total 982 persons onboard, which included security personnel.
Senior citizens from Khurda, Nayagarh, Puri, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, and Dhenkanal are travelling in this train. A special event was held to see off the pilgrims at Bhubaneswar station where the video message of the Chief Minister was broadcast.
Ministers Ashok Chandra Panda, Sameer Ranjan Dash, Tushar Kanti Behera, Government Chief Whip Prasant Kumar Muduli, MLAs Sashi Bhushan Behera, Suresh Kumar Routray, Ananta Narayan Jena Arabinda Dhali, Sambit Routray, Susant Rout, Mayor Sulochana Das, OTDC Chairman Lelin Mohanty, and the Barista Nagarika Tirtha Yatra Yojana Convener Durga Prasad Samantray were also present.
