BHUBANESWAR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday flagged off the inaugural journey of Pravasi Bharatiya Express, a special tourist train for the Indian diaspora.
The train that commenced its journey from Safdarjung railway station, New Delhi will cover multiple destinations of tourist and religious significance, including Ayodhya, Patna, Gaya, Varanasi, Mahabalipuram, Rameshwaram, Madurai, Kochi, Goa, Ekta Nagar (Kevadia), Ajmer, Pushkar and Agra. Carrying around 156 passengers, the train will cover the journey in three weeks. Under the Pravasi Teerth Darshan Yojana (PTDY) scheme, the Centre will bear all expenses related to the conducted train tour.
Additionally, the government will cover 90 per cent of the return airfare from India to the participants’ country. Participants are required to bear only 10 per cent of their return airfare.
The train has been exclusively designed for persons of Indian origin (PIOs), aged between 45 and 65 years, from low-income categories, to reconnect them with their cultural roots.
Encouraging everyone to visit numerous significant places of attraction in Odisha, Modi said, special trains like the Ramayana Express provided access to places associated with Lord Ram and Sita Mata while Bharat Gaurav trains connected important heritage sites across the country and semi-high-speed Vande Bharat trains link major heritage cities.
The launch of Pravasi Bharatiya Express commemorated the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to India on January 9 in 1915. This is a special state-of-the-art tourist train launched by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in collaboration with the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). The NRI travellers were selected through an application process by their respective Indian embassies or consulates for the inaugural journey.