A couple from Puri district entered the Guinness Book of World Records for their longest uninterrupted journey by trains and buses across the country.
Durga Charan Mishra, a retired official in the Association of State Road Transport Undertakings (ASRTU) under the Union Ministry of Transport, and his wife Jyotshna Mishra continuously travelled 29,000 km in 42 days.
Recently, the Guinness Book of World Records authorities handed over the certificate to the couple for achieving the feat for a second time. With this, the Mishras broke the previous record of a Romanian couple who had travelled 9,261 km.
The Mishra couple said they would shortly apply to the Guinness authorities to approve them as the world’s only couple to set the record twice.
Earlier, Mishra and his wife had been placed in the Guinness records for the longest journey by a car in a single country. They set the record by travelling 18,458 km throughout India in 2014.
Prior to their record in the Guinness Book of Records, the Mishras had achieved success in the Unique World Records by travelling 21,146 km by a Bullet in 2013.
A year ago, the couple had planned to travel the longest distance by bus and train. In this regard, they had informed the Guinness committee that made a few guidelines for the record. As per the guidelines, the couple was only allowed in government buses and passenger trains.
They were strictly prohibited to visit by trains like Rajdhani and Duronto Express trains and tourist or private taxis.
They began their journey from Puri by train at around 9.25 am on February 18. During 42 days, they travelled to various places in the States including Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir and Kerala. They were back in Puri at 8.18 pm on March 30.
The couple was visiting the tourist destinations from railway stations or bus-stands by walk. They were halting only at railway platforms. A two-member panel was keeping close watch on their movements through GPRS.