'Red Ribbon Express' pulls crowd in Jammu

Jammu, Nov 9: A seven-bogey special train titled 'Red Ribbon express', on Sunday, Nov 9 reached the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir after covering major destinations of the country, to aware masses about AIDS. The train reached the Jammu railway station this morning and is attracting crowd including young and the old.

''Highlighting the causes, measures and prevention of AIDS by various modes including banners, placards, posters, paintings and pictures, the 'Red Ribbon Express' is attracting crowd not only from the city but also from far flung areas,'' official sources said.

''The train is part of national level project initiated by the Rajiv Gandhi foundation, National Aids Control Organisation and Nehru yuva Kendra Sangathan and will cover around 180 destinations across the country educating people about the disease,'' official sources told UNI.

Books and special features have also been made available to the visitors on the bogeys to inform them about AIDS.

''Besides students, para-medical staff and doctors, women from rural areas also visited the railway station have glimpses of 'red ribbon express' and to get educated about the disease,'' they added.

The special train in collaboration with Nehru Yuva Kendra would cover 48 major villages and 192 adjoining areas in six blocks of Jammu and Samba districts.

The official sources, however, revealed that Kathua, Jammu and Srinagar districts have reported maximum number of cases of AIDS out of a total of 1594 figured in Jammu and Kashmir so far.

''The J&K aids control society and other departments concerned also played a major role in keeping a check over this deadly disease by launching awareness programmes and arranging free medicines for those 'infected','' sources added.

UNI