New Delhi, Jan 9: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday remotely flagged off the inaugural journey of the Pravasi Bharatiya Express, a special tourist train for the Indian diaspora.

The train will travel to various tourism and religious destinations across India over three weeks. This initiative is part of the Pravasi Teertha Darshan Yojana of the Ministry of External Affairs.

The Pravasi Bharatiya Express is a special state-of-the-art tourist train, exclusively designed and built for the Indian diaspora, and that too for the age group between 45 and 65 years.

Starting from its launch day, January 9, the train will travel to multiple destinations across the nation, including prominent tourist and religious places, for three weeks.

The date for flagging off the special train has also been deliberately chosen by the Modi-led government. The date January 9, 2025, commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to India on this date in the year 1915.

The departure of the train is from Safdarjung Railway Station in New Delhi and the route is - New Delhi - Ayodhya - Patna- Gaya - Varanasi - Mahabalipuram - Rameswaram - Madurai - Kochi - Goa - Ekta Nagar (Kevadia) - Ajmer - Pushkar - Agra. The train can accommodate 156 passengers.

To connect the Indian diaspora to their roots, this tour is being organised under the Ministry of External Affairs in collaboration with the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).

Indian Embassies across the world had invited applications from participants, giving a preference to Persons of Indian Origins (PIOs) belonging to the low-income category who would otherwise not be able to afford to visit India on their own.

A statement of the ministry said that it will bear all expenses for the aforesaid conducted train tour besides also bearing 90 per cent of the return airfares for the eligible people from their countries of origin to India. The participants need to bear only 10 per cent of their return airfares. The travellers will be accommodated at 4-star or similar category hotels as per the tour itinerary.

(IANS)

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