Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India]: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday flagged off a fortnightly train service exclusively for children between Jammu and Kashmir’s Banihal and Baramulla.
The Chief Minister flagged off the train at Qazigund and travelled with the children till Baramulla and finally de-boarded at Srinagar.
In the train, she interacted with children and asked them to devote their time to studies and extracurricular activities equally.
Minister for R&B Abdul Rehman Veeri, Minister for Education Naeem Akhtar, Ministers of State Asiea Naqash, Mir Zahoor and Priya Sethi, MPs, legislators, senior officers of divisional administration, senior officers of Northern Railways and large number of people joined the train at several stops.
She said children need more such occasions of outing and assured them that the government would be taking necessary steps for regularising their activities in sports, extracurricular, adventure and other such interactive activities.
The idea of running a train exclusively for children was first mooted by the Chief Minister in view that kids in the Valley have limited facilities of outing available locally.
The fortnightly train ride would give them an opportunity to know their province and State much closely and mingle with children of other areas and districts.
On every alternate Sunday, the train service would take off from Banihal at 8.15 am and reach Baramulla at 10.40 am from where it would return back at 10.50 am to reach Banihal back at 01.35 pm. The train would again move from Banihal at 2.10 pm and reach Baramulla at 5.05 pm to finally return back at 05.15 pm for the day.
The train would have stops at Qazigund, Anantnag, Awantipora, Srinagar, Budgam and Sopore before reaching Baramulla. In today’s inaugural run, students from government-run schools were taken on the ride but subsequently the facility would be thrown open to children of private schools as well.
The Chief Minister also greeted the people of the State on the auspicious occasion of Eid-i-Milad, the birthday of Prophet Muhammad. (ANI)