Rakhra flags off Tirath Yatra train to Nanded

Gagan K Teja

Tribune News Service

Patiala, January 15

Braving the bone chilling cold, about a thousand pilgrims today boarded the ‘Tirath Yatra’ train from the Patiala railway station here to Takht Sachkhand Sri Hazoor Sahib, Nanded in Maharashtra.

The atmosphere at the railway station was filled with joy as chants of “Jo Bole So Nihaal, Sat Shri Akal” filled the air.

The devotees reached the station much before the scheduled departure of the train. The pilgrims who were not carrying identity proofs were issued special identity cards for the trip even as they thanked Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for arranging the journey.

Bhagwant Singh (59) from Barsat, who was accompanied by 21 others of his village to the station, said: “It is like a dream come true.”

“I am a poor farmer. I could never have afforded to undertake the pilgrimage, but thanks to the Chief Minister I, along with my family members, will be able to pay obeisance at the Hazur Sahib,” said Bhagwant Singh.

“Visiting Nanded is a wish of every Sikh and thankfully mine has been fulfilled due to the largeness of the state government,” said Sukhwinder Kaur (65) of Damipur village.

Punjab Higher Education Minister Surjit Singh Rakhra, who flagged off the train, will be a part o the 5-day-long pilgrimage. Rakhra and his wife were traveling to Hazoor Sahib along with other pilgrims.

It is the fifth ‘Tirath Yatra’ train from Punjab and first from Patiala to Nanded under the ‘Mukh Mantri Tirath Yatra’ initiative.

An unprecedented rush was witnessed at the railway station since early morning with the buses transporting pilgrims from the Samana Assembly segment, the home constituency of Rakhra.

The ‘Tirath Yatra’ train comprises 18 coaches and pilgrims will be provided free food, accommodation and transportation during the pilgrimage.

Rakhra, meanwhile, said apart from trains to the famous Sikh pilgrimage, trains to Varanasi and Ajmer would also be started soon.

“As many as 11 trains will be flagged off in January and February. Apart from this, trains to Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra and San Thome Basilica in Chennai, built over the tomb of St Thomas, an apostle of Jesus, are also in the offing,” the minister said.

Earlier, the district administration and the railway authorities honoured each pilgrim with a ‘siropa’.