All schools and colleges in Chhattisgarh will have a holiday on January 22 on the occasion of the idol consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, state minister Brijmohan Agrawal said on Thursday.
Addressing a press conference here, Agrawal, who handles the Religious Trust and Endowment, School and Higher Education as well as Culture and Tourism portfolios in the Vishnu Deo Sai government, said a weekly free train travel scheme for Ayodhya has also been planned.
"As per Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promise, the people of Chhattisgarh will get to travel free by train to Ayodhya to have darshan of Ram Lalla. The state government will ink a memorandum of understanding with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) for a weekly train in which 850 to 1000 devotees can travel till Ayodhya as part of this scheme," he said.
"Special care will be taken of the elderly and disabled in the train. They can travel with an assistant. There will be a doctor on board. Accommodation and food for the travellers will be made by the state government," Agrawal added.
Speaking about other programmes to mark the temple inauguration, the minister said devotional songs and rituals will be performed in the morning, while "Ganga aarti" will be held on the banks of rivers across the state in the evening.
The state government will develop Shri Ram Van Gaman Path, while Bhuteshwar Mahadeo, Jatmai-Ghatarani, Shiv Mahapeeth, Sirkatti Ashram and Kopeshwar Mahadeo temple in Gariaband will be developed as a tribal circuit, he said.
