Bidar is added in IRCTC tourism circuit.

Proud and Happy to share Bidar is added in IRCTC Pilgrim tourism Circuit. 

Lets hope Bidar will also be added as Heritage and added in historic Tourist Circuit too.

Source: Irctctourism.com

Punjab wants air, four-lane road link to Bidar

Taking up the cause of lakhs of inconvenienced Sikh pilgrims who visit Bidar every year in Karnataka where the first Sikh Guru Nanak Dev had dug out a water source, the Punjab Government has asked the Centre for air and four-lane road connectivity to the historic Sikh pilgrimage.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has impressed upon the Centre to allow domestic flights from the Indian Air Force (IAF) station at Bidar and four-lane the 200-km stretch of the road leading from Takht Sachkhand Hazur Sahib in Nanded to Bidar.

In a demi-official letter to Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh, Badal has sought permission to allow domestic flights at IAF station in Bidar for the convenience of lakhs of devotees.

“I recently visited Gurdwara Sri Nanak Jheera in Bidar to pay obeisance on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Nanak Jheera Pargat Samagam, where the Sikh sangat demanded air connectivity with Bidar for quick and comfortable journey,” Badal wrote. He requested Singh to immediately take up the matter with Union Ministry of Defence for allowing domestic flights at Bidar IAF station.

In a separate letter to Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways CP Joshi, Badal has demanded that National Highway-7 should be connected with National Highway-9 with a four-lane road from Nanded to Bidar via Degloor.

Badal apprised Joshi about the dilapidated condition of the road connecting the two historical and most frequented Sikh shrines which caused great hardship to the pilgrims who visit these places of religious importance in large numbers.

Referring to the various national highway projects in Punjab, the CM has drawn attention of the Union Government towards the snags in the works undertaken for upgradation of the Kharar-Kurali section of National Highway-21; four-laning of 20-km stretch of NH-1 between Jalandhar and Dhilwan; four to six-laning of NH-95 from Kharar to Ludhiana; and slow progress of six-laning of NH-1 from Shambhu border to Jalandhar.

Badal has urged Joshi to review the decision to upgrade 11-km stretch of Kharar-Kurali NH-21 on Bulid Operate Transfer (BOT) basis, which, he said, was not viable. “Since two toll plazas already exist between Kharar and Ropar, another toll plaza between Kharar and Kurali cannot be established as per the guidelines if this section is upgraded on BOT basis,” CM pointed out, while calling for four-laning of the Kharar-Kurali NH-21 on government expenses. Due to its narrowness, this highway had ecome a “killer highway”, he pointed out.

The CM also sought four-laning of the 20-km section of NH-1 between Jalandhar and Dhilwan, which has become a bottleneck in the six-lane NH-1 from Panipat to Jalandhar.

Reminding the Centre about the Prime Minister’s announcement in 2006 to six-lane Chandigarh-Ludhiana NH-95, Badal told Joshi that work on the project has not yet started.




Source: http://dailypostindia.com/news/20005-punjab-wants-air-four-lane-road-link-to-bidar.html

Jhira Pragat Samagam ends with procession

The four-day Jhira Pragat Samagam in Gurudwara Guru Nanak Jhira culminated with ‘Nagar Kirtan', a colourful procession, here on Sunday.

The procession started from the gurudwara after lunch. It went around the main streets of the city and returned to the gurudwara. Folk artistes, volunteers, religious leaders, singers, students and residents of the city took part in the procession. Elephants and horses walked along the procession, much to the entertainment of children, who had gathered along the streets to watch them.

Also, flags of Gurudwara Guru Nanak Jhira, Mai Bhago Gurudwara in Bidar and other gurudwaras in the surrounding areas were taken around the city.

Earlier, heads of various gurudwaras participated in the religious rituals.

Ishwar Khandre, MLA, appealed to the people to implement the principles of Guru Nanak in their lives and live in harmony. Gyani Gurubachan Singh of Akal Takht also spoke.

Baba Kulwant Singh of Sachkhand Hujur Saheb Nanded, Srikar Pardesi and others participated. Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee president Balbir Singh, manager Darbara Singh and others were present.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/karnataka/article3367701.ece

‘Manav Dharm Samavesh' in Bidar

Manav Dharm Samavesh', an all-faith conference, was organised at Gurdwara Guru Nanak Jhira here on Saturday (29th  April 2012), on the last day of the Jhira Pragat Samagam.

Leaders of various faiths explained the basic principles of their religion and said the aim of all religions was the same. Nirbhayananda Swami of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Ashram, Jyotirmayananda Swami, Reverend Nelson Sumitra and Moulana Mukthar Ahmed spoke.

Gyani Jaswant Singh and Gyani Amarjit Singh gave lectures on the life of Guru Nanak. Ragi Indarjit Singh Khalla, Ragi Amarjit Singh Patiala and Ragi Dilip Singh Pakkad sang devotional songs. Members of several religious and non-governmental organisations served as volunteers at the function. Some of them put up ‘langar' centres, offering free food to pilgrims.

The Nishkam Medical Care Society of Patiala set up a health camp where they distributed medicines for free and conducted health check-up.

Devotees welcomed Baba Harnam Singh who ended his padayatra here on Friday. He had started his padayatra in Amritsar in February.

source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article3366269.ece

Bidar to Amritsar special train

In order to clear the rush of passengers during the forthcoming celebrations of 500th Year of ‘Jheera Pragat Samagam’ at Bidar, South Central Railway will run a special train between Amritsar and Bidar.
Accordingly, Amritsar-Bidar special train will depart Amritsar at 14.50 hrs on April 23, 27 and 30 and arrive at Bidar at 08.30 hrs on the second day. In the return direction,Bidar-Amritsar special train will depart Bidar at 05.00 hrs on April 26, 30 and May 3.and arrive at Amritsar on the second day.

Source:  http://indiarailinfo.com/train/17547/2282/344

 and  http://ibnlive.in.com/news/bidar-to-amritsar-special-train/250689-60-121.html

Dharam Singh plumps for Bidar development in Delhi

A delegation led by former Chief Minister and Bidar MP, N Dharam Singh, called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demanded release of Rs 400 crore from the Prime Minster’s Fund to develop Bidar as a pilgrim city.

Gurudwara Nanak Jhira Saheb is a leading and historical Sikh shrine situated in Bidar, which is visited by thousands of pilgrims daily.

But the town has no required infrastructure facilities to accommodate pilgrims, Dharam Singh said.

To develop the town, a sum of Rs. 400 crore was sought from the Prime Minister’s fund, the memorandum submitted by the former chief minister to the Prime Minister said.

The Gurudwara Jhira Nanak Prabhandhak Committee has decided to celebrate 500 years of “Jhira Pragat Samagam” in Bidar from April 27 to 29.

About 10 lakh pilgrims are expected to participate in the religious programme, the memorandum said urging the Prime Minister to sanction the special grant for developing Bidar as a pilgrim city.

The delegation comprised MLAs Eshwar Khandre, Rajshekhar Patil, Rahim Khan, Bandeppa Khashampur and Gurudwara Jhira Nanak Prabhandhak Committee President Balbir Singh, as well as former MLA Gundappa Vakil.

Train services:

 For the benefit of pilgrims visiting Bidar from north India, Dharam Singh urged Union Railway Minister Mukul Roy and Union Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa to make arrangements for special train services from Amritsar to Bidar, Ambala to Bidar and Bareilly to Bidar on April 25 and for the return journey on April 30.

Invitation
He also requested an increase of trains running from Ganganagar in Rajasthan to Nanded in Maharashtra.
Mr. Dharam Singh has invited Congress President Sonia Gandhi to participate in one of the programmes as chief guest.


Airport
In a separate memorandum to Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh, Mr. Dharam Singh urged him to grant permission to use the airport at Bidar for the public.

The Defence Ministry has accorded permission to use the airport for civil aviation and the State government had spent more than Rs. 3 crore for creating amenities for the airport, he said.

But, GMR of Hyderabad had raised objections on developing such an airport within a 150-km radius of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad (Hyderabad).

Mr. Dharam Singh urged the Civil Aviation Ministry to sort out the issue immediately, the memorandum said.

Source: the hindu and daijiworld

Url: http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=133283
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article3278982.ece

Govt seeks special grant for Bidar district from Centre

Karnataka Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda today urged the Planning Commission to release a special grant of Rs 430 crore for the development of Bidar district, which is set to celebrate 500 years of Gurdwara Jheera Saheb.

The move comes in backdrop of the proposed 500-year celebrations of the famous gurdwara here in April.

In a letter to Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, he said: "...we are going to celebrate 500th year of consecration of the revered Guru Nanak Jheera Gurdwara at Bidar between 24th and 29th April 2012."

Gowda said the "gurdwara, considered as one of the holiest, has great cultural and historical significance. It will attract around two million people during the celebrations".

"In this context, it would be appropriate we pool our resources for the infrastructure upgradation in and around the Bidar City to ensure better civic and other services to the citizens and devotees," Gowda said.

The chief minister said a project proposal in this regard has been prepared and an estimated Rs 430 crore will be required for the development of basic infrastructure including roads, water supply, health facilities, traffic, electricity, sports and recreation etc.

"This one-time development of infrastructure will give fillip to the overall development of that area and will have tremendous multiplier effect which will help the whole area to develop," he said.

Source: Decan herald

URl: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/224250/karnataka-seeks-special-grant-bidar.html