CHENNAI : After a five-month sojourn across India to raise AIDS awareness, the Red Ribbon Express will chug into the Chennai Railway Station on Sunday and is expected to generate more than two lakh footfalls, organisers related to the event said.The organisers, which include Tamil Nadu Aids Control Society and 29 NGOs, told Express that the train will arrive in Chennai after travelling across the districts of Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli, Dindigul, Karur, Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga, Nagapattinam and Vellore. “The train will be open to public viewing from 8 am to 6 pm for two days at Platform number 11,” said coordinator of Desh D Antony Raj, who is one of the organisers of the event.The campaign will also include ‘Each one Teach One’ programme which will also have interactive sessions. The train will have an exclusive compartment which will offer free health check-ups for people travelling on the train.Periathambi, project coordinator of 4M Trust, one of the 29 NGOs organising the event, said, six lakh volunteers will be trained in creating HIV awareness after the train journey.More than 300 women from 29 NGOs participated in the rally organised to welcome the train. Collector Jayanthi flagged off the rally. The speakers at the rally spoke about the the complications of AIDS and laid stress on the need to target slums and to make Chennai a HIV free city. They also stated that people in the slum areas are at a higher risk of being affected with AIDS. There is an urgent need to create awareness in such areas, they added.
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