JORHAT, Nov 24 - Under the Bharat Darshan tour package of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC), a special tourist train will take passengers from the north-eastern region and West Bengal and a part of Bihar (areas under NF Railway) to religious places of Odisha and West Bengal on December 6.
Speaking to newspersons at the Jorhat Press Club on Saturday, the Additional General Manager (AGM) of Guwahati-based IRTC Regional Office, Anuj Dutta, said that the budget tour package, formulated so as to be affordable for people of lower income group with Rs 8,505 per person, will be for a period of eight nights and nine days (December 6 to 14).
Dutta said the special tourist train for the trip named Jagannath Dham Yatra will leave Agartala on December 6 and after visiting the religious sites in Odisha and West Bengal will return to Agartala on December 14.
The IRTC AGM stated that the places to be visited are Puri and Bhubaneswar in Odisha and Kolkata in West Bengal. He said tourists will be taken to the Jagannath Temple and Konark Sun Temple in Puri and Lingaraj Temple, Udaigiri and Khandagiri in Bhubaneswar. From Kolkata, the travellers will be taken to Gangasagar and Dakhineswar Temple, Dutta added.
Informing about the highlights of the budget tour, the IRTC AGM said that the train journey will be by sleeper class, accommodation will be provided for the tourists at the visiting places by making necessary arrangements at dharamsalas or any other budget-stay venues, vegetarian food will be served, and non-AC tourist buses will be provided for sight-seeing in the places to be visited under the tour.
Dutta further stated that there will be security arrangements (without arms) available for each coach of the train that has a capacity to accommodate over 600 passengers. He also said that the train will have tour escorts for making special announcements and disseminating information. He also informed that tourists of the special train will be insured during the tour period.
Disclosing about the passenger boarding and de-boarding stations for the special train, Dutta said starting from Agartala, the other places will be Badarpur, Guwahati, New Bongaigaon, New Cooch Behar, New Jalpaiguri and Malda town.
The AGM said during the present fiscal the IRCTC earlier organised two special tours to religious sites in different parts of India for people of the areas under NF Railway under the Bharat Darshan tour package and the ensuing one will be the third successive one.
Dutta said one more such tour of religious significance was on the cards within the current fiscal year.
