AMRITSAR, June 12 — History of sorts was created with Indian Railways giving permission to a special train which would cover thousands of kilometres (more than half of India) during its 13-day spiritual journey starting from June 18.

One of the coaches of the train would be used for round-the-clock ‘guru ka langar’ (community kitchen) while another would exhibit portraits on Sikh history and 51 Guru Granth Sahibs. In yet another coach, Sikh ragis would sing hymns from holy scriptures throughout the spiritual journey.

Microphones would be fitted in all 20 coaches of the train for the facility of 2000 passengers (devotees). Special arrangements would be made for ‘amrit sanchar’ (baptism) on the train. The public can get baptised wherever the train halts.

Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, would flag off the train on June 18 from Amritsar. The train would return here on July 1 after covering Haryana, Jaipur, Kota, Indore, Baroda, Surat, Mumbai, Pune, Bidar (Karnataka), Hyderabad, Aurangabad, Sri Hazoor Sahib (Nanded), Nagpur, Jabalpur, Itarsi, Bhopal, Gwalior, Agra, Delhi and Faridabad, among others.

The organisers have already deposited Rs 40 lakh as advance and expect that the total expenses on the spiritual journey would exceed Rs 50 lakh.

Giani Karnail Singh Garib, a world renowned Sikh scholar and preacher, Baba Kulwant Singh, Dr Jatinder Singh Jolly and Mr Atamyaad Singh said that the train had been organised due to the efforts of Gurdwara Nanaksar. Sikh institutions like Guru Nanak Mission Damdami Taksal, the SGPC, Delhi Gurdwara Management Committee and many other Sikh personalities from India and abroad had given their whole-hearted cooperation in this regard. They said the spiritual journey would be on ‘no profit, no loss basis’.

The organisers claimed that they had to put in a lot of efforts to get permission for this train. Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Union Sports Minister, had taken up this case with Railway Minister at a personal level. They further claimed that this was the first train of its kind which would cover various gurdwaras of the country in 13 days. In all, there would be 20 coaches, including two airconditioned ones.

Apart from this, 15 airconditioned buses would be used to carry advance teams which would make all arrangements before the halts of the train en route. In all, 26 Sikh conclaves would be organised during various halts of the special train.

As many as 51 akhand paths would be organised at Hazoor Sahib, the fifth Takht of the Sikhs, from June 24 to 26.