The first State-sponsored pilgrimage scheme for senior citizens was launched at the railway station here on Monday. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik flagged off a special train for the purpose.
A total of 977 pilgrims from across 10 districts boarded the train on tour to Rameshwaram and Madurai in Tamil Nadu.
As many as four platoons of police had been deployed at the railway station to avoid any untoward incident during the Chief Minister’s visit. Even, police had detained many BJP workers well before the CM reached the venue. The CM stayed at the railway station only for two to three minutes.
Earlier, the Chief Minister had inaugurated a slew of projects, including a bridge at Nahada and a Kalyan Mandap and a college building at Aska. later, he opened a Shraddha Sanjivani Child Home and the newly-constructed bus-stand at Gopalpur.