Bhubaneswar : Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday flagged off the sixth train under ‘Baristha Nagarika Tirtha Yatra Yojana’ (pilgrimage train for senior citizens).
Naveen flagged off the special train over video conferencing at the State Secretariat here. The Chief Minister greeted the 1,000 senior citizens with ‘Juhar,’ and the people responded with a thunderous applause.
The senior citizens who boarded the sixth Tirth Yatra train belong to 10 districts. The special train which departed from Sambalpur station today is scheduled to proceed to Shirdi, Nasik and Trimbakeshwar.
The fifth pilgrimage train was flagged off from Berhampur on January 4. Total 997 senior citizens from 10 Southern districts had visited Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) and Vellore (Tamil Nadu).
So far, 5,933 pilgrims have used the services of Baristha Nagarika Tirtha Yatra Yojana’s special trains over six phases. During 2016-17, total 2,931 pilgrims visited Rameshwaram, Madurai, Allahabad, Varanasi, Rishikesh and Haridwar.