PM Modi to launch train link to Vadodara during two-day Varanasi visit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off a direct train service between Varanasi and Vadodara, during a two-day visit to his parliamentary constituency.

Prime Minister Modi will launch the Mahamana Express on Friday through a video link. This train will connect Varanasi with Surat and Vadodara in Gujarat.

The Prime Minister's engagements in the two-day period will cover aspects as diverse as infrastructure, railways, textiles, financial inclusion, environment and sanitation, animal husbandry, culture and spirituality.

The Prime Minister will also unveil plaques to mark the laying of foundation stone or dedication of various developments works in the city. The Prime Minister will inaugurate the banking services of the Utkarsh Bank, and will also unveil a plaque to mark the laying of foundation stone of the headquarters building of the bank.

The Utkarsh Bank specialises in micro-finance.

A trade facilitation centre, the Deendayal Hastkala Sankul, for weavers to display and sell their wares will be the first project to be unveiled by the Prime Minister in Bada Lalpur upon his arrival in Varanasi on Friday.

The Prime Minister will also launch a 'Jal Ambulance' service and a 'Jal Shav Vahan Sewa' in Varanasi. The former will include a boat service with medical facilities operating in the Ganga to ferry the ill from one shore of the river to another. The latter will be a mortuary service boat to transport bodies for cremation on the ghats of the river Ganga.

The Prime Minister will visit the historic Tulsi Manas Temple in Varanasi on Friday evening. He will release a postal stamp on 'Ramayana.' He will later visit the Durga Mata Temple in the city.

Prime Minister Modi will distribute certificates to beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana on Saturday and address a gathering.

He will also briefly participate in a sanitation-related activity in the village of Shahanshahpur. He will then visit a Pashudhan Arogya Mela.