PATNA: State health minister Nand Kishore Yadav on Thursday opened the Red Ribbon Express train for public viewing and visit, at the siding yard of platform number 1 at the Danapur railway station. The special train, which came from Khagaria, will remain open for viewers and visitors till Friday.
A joint venture of railways and the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO), it will leave for Chopan in UP on Friday evening.
Lauding the railways and NACO, Yadav said the Red Ribbon Express would help create awareness about Aids, HIV and other diseases among common people.
The train would prove a boon for those who are ignorant about the menace of Aids and HIV diseases, he said and added prevention is better than cure.
According to Danapur PRO Ranjit Kumar Singh, the special train was flagged off from New Delhi on December 1, 2009 It comprises of eight bogies. While four bogies are dedicated to display items related to Aids and HIV, two others are meant for counselling and test purposes, he said.
The counselling and test bogies are well equipped. There is a provision for free HIV and Aids test of all those who volunteer for the same. Also, experienced counsellors give tips on certain measures to prevent the disease. There are 60-odd personnel, including the counsellors, aboard the train.
The four display bogies impressively throw light on the root causes of the disease and on the measures being taken by NACO to check the spread of Aids. Two special buses, travelling along with Red Ribbon Express, go to the villages adjacent to the station at which the train has halted, to show films through audio visual system and create awareness among villagers about Aids and HIV.
The train is scheduled to travel to 141 districts in 22 states across the country. Before reaching Bihar, the train covered 13 states and at least 40 lakh people have visited it so far.
Danapur is the 99th of the 141 stations where it is slated to halt. “An estimated 10,000 people visited the train at Danapur on Thursday alone,” PRO Singh said.
Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Games special train drew a large number of visitors on its second day at Patna Junction. The visitors included schoolchildren and sports lovers, including women.