Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Oct.27: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, on Wednesday, said that the Cabinet has approved the inclusion of Ayodhya in the national capital’s free pilgrimage scheme, ‘Mukhya Mantri Teerth Yatra Yojana’, for the elderly. The announcement by Kejriwal comes ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls early next year which his AAP plans to contest.
CM Kejriwal told the press that the Delhi government’s ‘Mukhya Mantri Teerth Yatra Yojana’ will be free of charge for the elderly. Vaishno Devi, Rameshwaram, Dwarka Puri, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Mathura, and Vrindavan are among the pilgrim destinations already covered by the scheme. Over 35,000 senior folks have gone on pilgrimage as a result of the programme.
“Elderly persons can also bring a member/kin,” he said, adding that the plan, which had been halted for more than a year owing to Covid-19, would most likely begin in a month.
Now Ayodhya has also been included in Delhi Govt's Tirth Yatra Yojana; to be free of cost for the aged people. They can also bring a member/kin along: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal pic.twitter.com/TuOmPkgMLw
— ANI (@ANI) October 27, 2021
The scheme aims to allow 77,000 Delhi residents over 60 years of age (1,100 from each of the 70 assembly constituencies) to embark on a pilgrimage on one of the five famous routes once a year.
Delhi-Mathura-Vrindavan-Agra-Fatehpur Sikri, Delhi-Haridwar-Rishikesh-Neelkanth, Delhi-Ajmer-Pushkar, Delhi-Amritsar-Wagah border-Anandpur Sahib, and Delhi-Vaishno Devi-Jammu are some of the routes available.
Senior citizens can travel by AC trains and stay in AC hotels as part of the ‘Mukhya Mantri Tirth Yatra Yojana,’ which is funded entirely by the Delhi government.
On Tuesday, Kejriwal prayed at the Ram Janmabhoomi shrine in Ayodhya and announced that the temple town of Ayodhya will be included in the Delhi government’s free pilgrimage scheme.
“It was a blessing that I was able to bow before Ram Lalla, and I hope that everyone has the opportunity to do so. I would utilise whatever power I have to ensure that more and more people enjoy ‘darshan’ here,” Kejriwal said.
