Prayagraj: Rail Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday said the Railways would run about 13,000 trains, including 3,000 special ones, for the convenience of devotees during the Maha Kumbh.

The Union minister, who reached Prayagraj by train from Varanasi to review the Railways’ preparations for the mega event, expects about 1.5 to 2 crore passengers to reach the city by train during the mela.

The Maha Kumbh will commence on January 13 on the occasion of Paush Purnima and conclude on February 26 on Mahashivratri.

Statement Of Union Rail Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

After inspecting several stations under the Northeast Railway, Northern Railway and the North Central Railway in Prayagraj, the minister told reporters, “I also inspected the new bridge built over the Ganga, which will soon be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A new bridge has been built over the Ganga here after 100 years.” “I personally inspected five stations. The holding areas at these stations, where the devotees will be able to sit till their trains arrive, are very good. Colour coding has been used in the holding areas and tickets so that the devotees can reach the right platform,” Vaishnaw added.

The minister further said that the mobile UTS (Unreserved Ticket System) would be used in Prayagraj for the first time.

The system was used during the Rath Yatra in Puri, he said.

“For the Maha Kumbh, the railway track on the Prayagraj-Varanasi route has been doubled. The Phaphamau-Janghai section has been doubled. A second entrance has been built at the Jhansi, Phaphamau, Prayagraj, Subedarganj, Naini and the Cheoki stations,” Vaishnaw said.

Control Room Set Up At Every Station

A control room has been set up at every station that will send live feeds to the master control room at the Prayagraj station.

CCTV camera feed from Maha Kumbh Nagar and the police will also be received at the master control room.

The minister said work at the Prayagraj station was done using the experience gained during the Ram temple consecration programme in Ayodhya and the Rath Yatra in Puri.

Rail Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw On Holding Areas

Vaishnaw also said more than 23 holding areas had been built at various stations in Prayagraj, apart from 48 platforms. Similarly, 21 foot overbridges have been built and arrangements made for 554 ticketing kiosks.

The Indian Railways spent more than Rs 5,000 crore on preparations for the Maha Kumbh in the past two years, Vaishnaw said.

Railway Board CEO Satish Kumar and other senior officials accompanied Vaishnaw during the review.

The government has disbursed Rs 20,657 crore to over 9.58 crore farmers in the latest 18th installment under the PM-KISAN scheme.

In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Agriculture Ram Nath Thakur informed that 9,58,97,635 farmers received Rs 20,657.36 crore under the PM-KISAN’s 18th installment for August-November 2024 period.

“The PM-KISAN scheme is a central sector scheme launched in February 2019 by the Prime Minister to supplement the financial needs of land-holding farmers.

“Under the scheme, a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year is transferred in three equal installments, into the Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts of farmers through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode,” he said.

A farmer-centric digital infrastructure has ensured the benefits of the scheme reach all the farmers across the country without the involvement of any middlemen, he added.

“Maintaining absolute transparency in registering and verifying beneficiaries, the Government of India has disbursed over Rs 3.46 lakh crore in 18 installments since inception. During the release of the 18th installment of PMKisan, over 9.58 cr beneficiaries received the benefit of the scheme,” Thakur said.

Answering a separate question, he informed that the recoveries from ineligible farmers marked due to income tax payee, higher income groups, government employees etc. have been initiated by the concerned state governments.

“A total of Rs 335 crore has been recovered from the ineligible beneficiaries so far across the country,” the minister said.

In reply to another query, Thakur said, “Presently, there is no proposal under consideration to expand the scheme to tenant farmers”.

BJP MLA Kalidas Kolambkar will take oath as the pro-tem Speaker of the Maharashtra legislative assembly on Friday, a day before the special three-day session of the Lower House of the state legislature begins.

Kolambkar, a nine-time MLA, confirmed that he will take oath as the pro-tem speaker at 1 pm at the Raj Bhavan.

Governor C P Radhakrishnan will administer the oath to him, he said.

Kolambkar currently represents the Wadala assembly constituency in Mumbai.

As pro-tem speaker, he will administer the oath of office to 288 newly-elected MLAs, conduct the assembly speaker’s election during the three-day special session of the 15th assembly beginning December 7.

The speaker’s election will be held on December 9 followed by a trust vote of the Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government.

Fadnavis on Thursday evening took oath as the state chief minister, while leaders of the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, were sworn in as deputy chief ministers at a grand ceremony in south Mumbai’s sprawling Azad Maidan.

The BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP Mahayuti coalition won 230 out of the 288 assembly seats in the elections held on November 20.

The winter session of the state legislature will be held in Nagpur from December 16 to 21.