850 devotees depart from Raipur for pilgrimage under Shri Ramlala Darshan Yojana – Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai extends best wishes
Raipur, 15 July 2025 l Under the ‘Shri Ramlala Darshan Yojana’ started by the Chhattisgarh government to give concrete form to the faith and devotion of the people of the state, 850 devotees of Raipur division left for Ayodhya Dham by special train from Raipur Railway Station today. On the commencement of this holy journey, Chief Minister Shri Vishnu Dev Sai extended his heartfelt best wishes to the devotees and wished them a safe journey.
Chief Minister Shri Sai said that this holy journey of providing free darshan of our ‘Bhancha Ram’ – Shri Ramlala to the devotees is continuing uninterrupted. This journey is realizing the guarantee of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji, in which he had pledged to provide an opportunity to every citizen of the country to have darshan of Lord Shri Ram.
He said that under the “Shri Ramlala Darshan Yojana”, the government had set a target of sending 20,000 devotees to Ayodhya Dham by March 2024, but due to the unique faith, enthusiasm of the people of the state and the commitment of the government, this number has exceeded 22,000. In this journey, devotees are also getting the privilege of visiting Kashi Vishwanath Dham.
Chief Minister Shri Sai said that a budget of ₹ 36 crore has been approved for this scheme in the financial year 2025-26. So far, in the last one and a half years, 27 special trains have left for Ayodhya Dham carrying devotees from various divisions of Chhattisgarh.
The Chief Minister said that Shri Ramlala Tirtha Darshan Yojana is not only a religious journey, but a historic initiative towards empowering the cultural consciousness of Chhattisgarh. The objective of the government is that every citizen of the state, especially the elderly and the deprived class, can visit the birthplace of Lord Shri Ram once in their life.
‘Shri Ramlala Darshan Yojana’, started on the initiative of Chief Minister Shri Vishnu Dev Sai, has today become deeply connected with the life of the people of the state. In this episode, the first special train of the financial year 2025-26 left for Ayodhya Dham from Raipur Railway Station today. On this occasion, Revenue, Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Shri Tankaram Verma flagged off the train at 1:00 pm. During the departure of the train, platform number 7 of Raipur Railway Station echoed with the slogans of Jai Shri Ram. An atmosphere of special enthusiasm and reverence was seen among the pilgrims and their families. The passengers were welcomed with traditional Chhattisgarhi folk dance and folk instruments, while the representatives of IRCTC greeted them by applying tilak. On this occasion, MLAs Shri Purandar Mishra, Shri Motilal Sahu, Guru Khuswant Sahib, Chairman of Chhattisgarh Tourism Board Shri Neelu Sharma, Chairman of Civil Supplies Corporation Shri Sanjay Srivastava, Chairman of State Waqf Board Dr. Salim Raj, Secretary Culture and Tourism Dr. Rohit Yadav, Managing Director of Tourism Board Shri Vivek Acharya, Collector Raipur Dr. Gaurav Singh along with senior officers and representatives of Railways and IRCTC were present.
It is noteworthy that this scheme was conceived by Chief Minister Shri Vishnu Dev Sai with the aim of giving the people of the state the opportunity to visit Ayodhya Dham once in their lifetime. For this, an MoU was signed between Chhattisgarh Tourism Board and IRCTC on 23 February 2024. The scheme was formally launched from Raipur on 5 March 2024, when Chief Minister Shri Sai himself flagged off the first train. After this, special trains were also operated from Bilaspur, Surguja and Durg-Bastar (joint) divisions. Last year, about 22,100 devotees visited Ayodhya Dham through this scheme. Under the scheme, operation of weekly special trains will continue from each division.