Berhampur, July 25: The three months pilgrimage tour programme for senior citizens, from Berhampur to Rameshwaram and Madurai will start from today. Chief Minister would flag off the programme today from the Berhampur railway station.
About 1000 devotees will travel to several tourist places in south India in its first phase.
The programme will also be available from Bhubaneswar and Sambalpur railway station and will start in the month of July every year.
The train would leave for Banaras and Allahabad form Bhubaneswar, while from Sambalpur, the final destinations would be Haridwar and Rishikesh in Uttar Pradesh.
For this purpose and to maintain a fine tune regarding the preparation of the programme, Ashok Chandra Panda, Culture and Tourism Minister had held a discussion with the collectors of ten districts through video conferencing.
Notably, for providing financial assistance for this pilgrimage programme, the state government would bear the entire expenditure of devotees like travel, accommodation and medical expenses.
