Prez takes inaugural train trip to village close to birthplace

Badampahar: President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday flagged off three trains from Badampahar railway station in Mayurbhanj district ofOdisha.

She also undertook an inaugural trip on one of the trains from Badampahar to Rairangpur, a village about 13 km away from her birthplace — Uparbeda. Murmu spent a considerable time of her life in Rairangpur.

The three trains — Shalimar-Badampahar and Badampahar-Rourkela Weekly Express and one MEMU between Badampahar and Tatanagar — will connect tribal areas with bigger cities and give a huge boost to the local economy.

The Shalimar-Badampahar Weekly Express will be the first-ever Express train connecting Shalimar near Kolkata in West Bengal with Badampahar in Odisha.

The second Weekly Express train will connect the mineral-rich areas of Badampahar with Rourkela, while the third — Tatanagar-Badampahar MEMU — will be important for daily commuters as it will run six days a week except on Sunday.