Special Kumbh train for poor pilgrims from Jharkhand flagged off

RANCHI: Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das on Tuesday evening flagged off a special train ferrying pilgrims from poor families of the state to Allahabad for a holy bath at the Prayag in the ongoing Kumbh Mela.
Flanked by state tourism minister Amar Kumar Bauri and urban development cum transport minister CP Singh, Das flagged off the train from Hatia station. Around 800 pilgrims, selected from different parts of Jharkhand under the government’s Mukhyamantri Teerth Darshan Yojana, were aboard the train.

Being run jointly by the Jharkhand Tourism Development Corporation (JTDC) and the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the train began its journey from Tatanagar in the afternoon and reached Hatia through Rourkella in Odisha at 4 pm, officials of Ranchi division of South Eastern Railways (SER).

Samru Sahu, a septuagenarian from Gumla district, beamed with happiness. “This is the first time I will be travelling outside Jharkhand. I am looking forward to taking a dip in the holy waters,” Sahu said. Basanti Devi, a 65-year-old woman from Lohardaga, also echoed Sahu’s sentiments. A 19-member contingent of Tana Bhagats from Gumla was also aboard the train.

The train, the IRCTC said, will reach Allahabad on Wednesday and begin its return journey in the evening of January 31. “It is the responsibility of the organizers to bring back all the pilgrims safely and take them to every Akhadas,” Das said at the event.

In November 2018, a batch of 800 pilgrims had visited Puri, Konark and another Bhuvaneshwar on a special train for five days under the scheme. Another batch of pilgrims are due to undertake a tour to Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan later this year.