Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal today said his Ministry would soon chalk out a plan with the Health Ministry for displaying campaigns and advertisements of social welfare schemes for the poor and common man.
"I am open and receptive to the idea...I welcome it outright," Bansal said while addressing a function to mark the closing of the third phase of the Red Ribbon Express for creating awareness on HIV/AIDS.
Bansal was responding to the suggestion by Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad for painting of rail coaches with informative advertisements to spread the message about various health- related welfare schemes.
"Indian Railways has over 51,000 coaches. To begin with, on some coaches we can have the messages painted. Both the Railway and Health Ministry will work out the modalities soon," Bansal said.
Azad had earlier said there was a need for an "innovative medium" to spread the message about the various initiatives taken by the government.
"Many welfare schemes have been launched by the Government of India for the benefit of the people. Janani-Shishu Suraksha Yojna is one such programme which has been started to guarantee free health care to all the pregnant mothers and sick neonates. But due to lack of awareness, the scheme has not reached the pregnant mothers," he said.
Adding that the trains can be an ideal carrier of social and welfare messages, he said: "When we roam around the city we find advertisements everywhere, but the big trains which travel across the length and breadth of the country, there is no advertisement on them."
Azad said campaigns won't work if the Railway Ministry only provides trains. "Railway Ministry needs to take the same amount of interest in the campaign as the Health Ministry.
"Coaches would be painted with messages which are informative and educative for the benefit of the general public in the days to come," Bansal said.
