Goa, Feb 13: The first Aastha train from Goa embarked on its journey to Ayodhya with approximately 2000 passengers on Monday.

The party's state president, Rajya Sabha MP, local leaders, and Goa's Chief Minister, Pramod Sawant, were present to bid farewell.

While speaking to ANI, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that the entire Goa Cabinet of Ministers will visit Ram Mandir on February 15.

"The first Astha train from Goa to Ayodhya has started. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has organized this train for all the people of Goa who are going to Ayodhya. I am here with our party's state president, Rajya Sabha MP and our local leaders to bid farewell to the train passengers who are going to Ayodhya. Approximately 2000 people from Goa are going to Ayodhya today. On the 15th of this month, we will visit Ram Lalla with the entire cabinet of Goa and the people of Goa. It is a matter of fortune for us that for the first time, we are visiting Ram Lalla with all the people of Goa," he said.

Earlier on Sunday, Union Minister of State for Railways Darshana Jardosh flagged off Surat to Ayodhya Dham--Special Tourist 'Aastha' train from Surat Central Railway Station for Ayodhya.

Meanwhile, an 'Aastha Special Train' was boarded by a large number of Lord Ram devotees from Jalandhar on Friday. Another Aastha special train commenced its journey to Ayodhya from the Kochuveli railway station in Thiruvananthapuram at 10 am on Friday.

The Indian Railways is running more than 200 Aastha special trains from various cities and tier 1 and tier 2 towns across India to Ayodhya for the darshan of Ram Lalla in the newly-built Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

As per the railways, each Aastha train comprises 20 sleeper coaches. One train can accommodate around 1,400 people.
Following the 'Pran Pratishtha' ceremony of Ram Lalla at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on January 22, a large number of devotees have been visiting the temple.

(ANI)