Indian Railways: All Stations To Light Up On 22 January; Events To Be Conducted For Local Participation

Joining the celebration, Indian Railways has decided to light up diyas at all stations across the country to mark the consecration of Ram Temple at Ayodhya on 22 January.

Besides, those stations named on Lord Ram will have special programmes on the occasion to celebrate the Ram Mandir event.

While there are more than 8,000 stations in the Railways, the stations named after Ram are over 300 in the country.

“It will be like Diwali as all stations, including small and big ones in the country will be illuminated with diyas on the occasion of consecration of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya on 22 January,” said a senior Railway Ministry official.

There are total 8,911 stations in the rail network in the country, out of which some are not so big and just halts. But it was decided that irrespective of the size and volume of operations, all stations will be decked up with lights to celeberate the most awaited occasion of the month.

There are 354 stations which are named after Lord Ram which include Rammandir and Ramtek in Maharashtra, Ramnagar in Uttarakhand, Ramkola and Ramkot in Uttar Pradesh, Rampur in Madhya Pradesh, Rampurbazar in West Bengal, Ramsar and Ramsingpur in Rajasthan, Ramroopnagar in Bihar, Ramakistapuram in Telengana and Ramakunda in Jharkhand, among others.

Besides the illumination of the stations, the station masters will be organising some events with the participation of local people on that day.

In fact, some stations will be lit up a day before the event.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Saturday, appealed that people should not come to Ayodhya on 22 January for the consecration ceremony of Ram Temple. Prime Minister Modi asked people to light Ram Jyoti at their homes and celebrate Diwali to mark the occasion.

The Railways has already decided to run Aastha Specials for Ayodhya from 66 places to facilitate pilgrims to reach there.

Ayodhya station, which has been renamed as Ayodhya Dham, is being redeveloped to meet the increased rush for the event.