Petroleum Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan reviews preparartions pertaining to Nabakalebara festival
The Minister of State (I/C), P&NG Shri Dharmendra Pradhan met Minister of State for Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha and Minister of State, Tourism and Culture, Dr. Mahesh Sharma today. Various issues pertaining to Nabakalebara festival in Odisha were reviewed during the course of the meeting. With respect to the railways, the preparedness of Railways in providing amenities and other facilities to rail passengers was reviewed with Minister of State for Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha . This being a year of Nabakalebara, it is expected that the number of tourists / pilgrims visiting the holy city of Puri will be significantly higher. Shri Dharmendra Pradhan expressed his gratitude to the railways for the decision to run 200 special trains as against 80 to 90 trains being run by the Railways during the preceding years. He also complimented the railways for the provision of additional facilities proposed during Bahuda Yatra and Sunabesha. Railways is creating adequate passenger amenities for the comforts of the passengers and new infrastructure facilities will be dedicated to the nation for the convenience of the passengers visiting Puri.
Minister of State (I/C), P&NG Shri Dharmendra Pradhan also met Hon'ble Minister of State, Tourism and Culture, Dr. Mahesh Sharma to review various schemes related to promotion of Nabakalebara in social media, print media and other mass media so as to popularize the event in India and abroad. He expressed his gratitude to the Hon'ble Prime Minister and Hon'ble Minister for meeting the expectations of the people of the state. The entire campaign related to Nabakalebara is being made as part of Incredible India campaign. In the meeting, it was also decided to organize a separate function for issuance of commemorative stamp and commemorative coin for the occasion.
As part of popularizing the festival and facilitating international travelers, it has been decided to start operation of international flights from Biju Patnaik Airport. Air India will commence international operations before 10.07.2015 from Bhubaneswar for Dubai. Shri Pradhan expressed his gratitude to Dr. Mahesh Sharma for meeting long standing desire of the people from the state.
MJPS
