Report by Manoranjan Routray; Koraput: The Red Ribbon Express, on a mission to create awareness about HIV/AIDS, would be stationed here for two days from June 20th. The Express is hosting an exhibition on HIV/AIDS and messages about prevention of the diseases, an official release said here today.

The district administration has made huge arrangements to draw crowds from the district to visit the Red Ribbon Express. The Red Ribbon Express has eight air-conditioned compartments of which, four have exhibits, including three on HIV/AIDS and one on general health. One compartment has a counseling and treatment centre with four counselors and two doctors.

In this connection a meeting was held at Koraput under the chairmanship of the Chief District Medical officer, Koraput Dr. Pramod Kumar Mohanty. A cycle rally and a auto rickshaw rally will be organized on 19th June to spread information about the arrival of the train said Dr. Mohanty and  He expects around 50,000 visitors from across the district. The meeting decided to popularise the event through print and TV media, Doordarshan and Akashavani. Vehicles would also be arranged from rural areas for bringing people to visit the train.

The campaign is in the third phase of a series of campaigns held in 2007-08 and 2008-09. This year the train was flagged off from New Delhi on January 12 to commemorate National Youth Day.