Madhya Pradesh: Malnutrition-Free Panchayat To Get ₹1 Lakh Award; 20,000 Devotees Reach Railway Station For Kumbh Mela

Sagar (Madhya Pradesh): 39 village panchayats identified Sagar Under the Malnutrition-Free India Campaign, 39 Gram Panchayats of Sagar district have been selected for Suposhan Panchayat programme. The top-performing Panchayat will be awarded Rs 1 lakh by the Government of India, with each anganwadi worker receiving Rs 5,000 and assistants Rs 3,000 as incentive.

District Collector Sandeep GR has directed officials, anganwadi workers and assistants to ensure necessary improvements in 79 identified anganwadi centres to achieve excellent grades in evaluation by Tamil Nadu team.

District Program Officer Brijesh Kumar Tripathi stated that this initiative fell under Mission Poshan 2.0, aimed at improving the nutrition levels of children, pregnant women, lactating mothers and adolescents. The selection will be based on criteria such as nutrition tracker data, availability of drinking water, toilets, electricity, and essential monitoring equipment.

Gram Panchayats from various development blocks including Banda, Bina, Deori, Jaisinagar, Kesli, Khurai, Malthone, Rahatgarh and Rahli, have been identified. Officials have been instructed to inspect the centres within seven days and rectify deficiencies to enhance their chances of receiving the award.

20,000 Devotees Reach Railway Station For Kumbh Mela

Satna (Madhya Pradesh): A massive crowd of devotees heading to the Kumbh Mela gathered at Satna railway station, leading to special railway arrangements. Nearly 20,000 passengers traveled to Prayagraj in a single day from Satna, which lies on the Mumbai-Howrah rail route.

The surge in rail traffic was attributed to no-entry rule for vehicles in Prayagraj. To accommodate the rush, the railways introduced a special Kumbh Mela train.

Earlier, 3,000 passengers had left via Rewa-Anand Vihar train, yet thousands remained at the station. The Mela special train carried 7,000 devotees but around 2,000 passengers were still waiting. To manage this, another special train was arranged from Katni at 10 pm.

Amid the heavy crowd, some passengers with confirmed tickets struggled to reach their seats. A Delhi-bound passenger Yogendra Singh had to cancel his ticket as he and his family could not board their AC coach. The railways reported that 175 passenger trains are operating on Satna-Prayagraj route within 24 hours to manage the increased demand.