Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday flagged off the 11th pilgrimage train for senior citizens at Bhubaneswar Railway Station. The special train will carry senior citizens from various parts of the state to Kolkata in West Bengal and Kamakhya in Assam before returning to Odisha.
The CM congratulated the senior citizens and wished them a happy journey. On the other hand, the senior citizens thanked the CM for fulfilling their long-pending wish of going on a pilgrimage.
Launched in 2016 under the Odisha Government’s ‘Baristha Nagarika Tirtha Jatra’ Yojana, the pilgrimage train aims to enable the poor senior citizens of the state to visit various religious places across the country.
The pilgrimage is free of cost and includes breakfast, meals, tea, snacks, tour guides, travel insurance, and medical facilities by IRCTC during the entire duration of the journey.
In the last three years, more than 10,000 senior citizens from various parts of the state have visited places like Ajmer, Allahabad, Haridwar, Madurai, Nashik, Pushkar, Rameshwaram, Rishikesh, Shirdi, Tirupati, Triambakeshwar, Varanasi and Vellore in six phases.
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Ms Kalinga