Union Railways Minister DV Sadananda Gowda will dedicate Bathinda-New Delhi Shatabdi Express to the Punjabis on October 31 from Bathinda junction.
This was announced by the Union Food Processing Industry Minister and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal who was in city on Monday to flag off ‘Dham Special with Dakshin Darshan’ train from Chandigarh railway station.
Interacting with media persons after flag off ceremony, Harsimrat said that the NDA Government was also contemplating to “link popular pilgrimages of the country with special tourist trains”.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has started this mission for facilitation of pilgrims by providing easier access to India’s most popular pilgrimages,” she said.
She emphasised that with the launch of special trains to revered shrines in the country, it will give a big boost to religious tourism since an estimated more than 50 lakh people visits various shrines, temples and other religious places in India.
This special train, Dham Special, will traverse through pilgrim destinations at Faizabad, Ayodhaya, Varanasi, Mughalsarai, Puri, Tirupati, Kanchipuram, Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari, Aurangabad, Dwarka and Ujjain.
“This train would enable lakhs of pilgrims to pay their obeisance at various revered places of pilgrimage in south India besides making their journeys easier, comfortable and affordable,” she said while congratulating the devotees, who would travel in this train saying that the train is a gift for Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Chandigarh tourists.
She said that NDA Government has decided to run special tourist trains covering popular pilgrim destinations and tourist spots in the country.