Kerala - Kozhikode

Red Ribbon Express arrives on July 8

Kozhikode: The Red Ribbon Express, the campaign against AIDS on rails, will reach here on July 8.

District Collector A. Jayathilak told reporters here on Friday that elaborate arrangements were made for receiving the train. M.P. Veerendrakumar, MP, would inaugurate the exhibition on the train at the Kozhikode Railway Station at 9 a.m. on July 8. The train would be stationed at the fourth platform on July 8 and 9.

The Collector said the public could view the exhibition free of cost. The people need not take platform tickets for this. Schoolchildren could also see the exhibition.

The train spreading AIDS awareness messages under the auspices of Union Railway Ministry, National AIDS Control Society, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Nehru Yuva Kendra started its journey from New Delhi on December 1, 2007.

It reached Kerala on June 28 after having travelled 9,000 km and visited 180 districts and 43,200 villages across the country.

Two buses would accompany the train to cover remote areas of the district on July 8 and 9. The buses would halt at 12 centres and conduct exhibitions and cultural programmes. Apart from that, six teams of artistes from Nehru Yuva Kendra would performance at 98 places covering 24 villages daily to spread awareness of AIDS on the two days. The train, with seven bogies, has exhibitions, films and video games in three of it. The fourth bogie has the facilities to impart training classes to people’s representatives, trade union leaders, volunteers, employees of departments of health, police, jail, education and youth welfare. Those affected with AIDS would share their experiences.

The fifth compartment has facilities for counselling and treatment. The activities of the office would be in the sixth bogie. The artistes from NYK and Song and Drama Division would be performing various cultural programmes in the seventh bogie.

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