Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train “Shri Jagannath Yatra” was flagged off today from Delhi Safdarjung Railway Station on its auspicious tour by Dharmendra Pradhan Minister of Education, along with Ashwini Vaishnaw Minister of Railways and G Kishan Reddy Minister of Tourism and Culture.
Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train started on its very special tour Shri Jagannath Yatra with 528 tourists, covering some of the very prominent pilgrimage and heritage destinations of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa.
Speaking on the occasion, Pradhan said that the train fulfils the Prime Minister’s vision to enable common citizens of the country to travel within the country, particularly pilgrimage sites. He said that high quality facilities have been provided for the passengers, including accommodation, food and local transportation.
He said that such initiatives will not only provide opportunities to the people to be aware about rich Indian cultural heritage, but also provide employment to many.
Vaishnaw said that eight such pilgrim circuits have already become operational, giving an opportunity to the believers to expose themselves to Indian culture. He said that India has very large number of tourist destinations, and the Prime Minister has been guiding his Ministry to provide easy access, suitable amenities, and proper information to the people for tapping them properly.
Kishan Reddy said that lakhs of Indians want to visit religious places but are not able to do so due to lack of convenience and affordability and also that domestic tourism in the country is expanding rapidly.
Train will return back to Delhi on 1st Feb 2023. Coupled with a modern state of the art AC rake, the tourist train has options to board/de-board the train at Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Tundla, Etawah, Kanpur and Lucknow stations in the tour.
