Kejriwal said the AAP governments in Delhi and Punjab are walking in the footsteps of the great Gurus to serve the people.
Published Nov 27, 2023 | 10:05 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 27, 2023 | 10:05 PM
Launch of the 'Mukhyamantri Teerth Yatra'. (Supplied)
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday, 27 November, launched the “Mukhyamantri Teerth Yatra” scheme to facilitate people to pay obeisance at sacred places across the country. He was accompanied by his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal.
Addressing a gathering after launching the scheme in his home district Dhuri, district Sangrur, on the auspicious occasion of “Parkash Purb” of Guru Nanak Dev, Mann said the scheme is in line with the teachings and philosophy of the great Guru who spread the message of universal love and brotherhood.
The chief minister said, “A large section of society is not able to visit the sacred places across the country due to one reason or the other, and that is why the state government has started this scheme to facilitate the pilgrims to visit the various holy places.”
He added: “Over 50,000 pilgrims will be availing of this facility over three months, adding that 13,000 of them will travel via 13 trains carrying 1,000 passengers each which will leave every eighth day. The remaining will be travelling via buses, with 10 buses leaving every day, carrying 43 passengers each.”
Mann said in the first batch 300 pilgrims from Amritsar, 220 from Jalandhar and more than 500 from Dhuri will be travelling to Sri Hazur Sahib at Nanded in Maharashtra on a train.
Mann said, “A team of doctors, volunteers and officials will also travel with the pilgrims to take care of any emergency and an advanced team of officials have been sent to take care of all the amenities before the yatris arrive.”
“For the comfort of the pilgrims during the trip, facilities such as food, local travel, welcome kit and accommodation will be provided free of cost to the pilgrims”, he added.
He also said that old people above the age of 75 will also be allowed to have young attendants to travel with them. The state government has kept a budget of about ₹40 crore during the financial year 2023-24 for this ambitious scheme.
Pertinently, all residents of Punjab are eligible to avail of this scheme and the pilgrims will be selected by the Deputy Commissioners of the concerned district.
Some of the scared places where the pilgrims will go by train include Sri Hazur Sahib and Sri Patna Sahib, Varanasi, Mathura, Ajmer Sharif and through buses, the pilgrims will be able to visit Amritsar, Sri Anandpur Sahib and Sri Damdama Sahib, Vaishno Devi, Mata Chintpurni, Naina Devi, Mata Jwalaji, Salasar Dham, Khatu Shyam.
On this occasion, Kejriwal said the AAP governments in Delhi and Punjab are walking in the footsteps of the great Gurus to serve the people of these two places.
He said the important scheme is being launched to facilitate the people who can’t travel to holy pilgrimages because of lack of resources.
The scheme was earlier launched by the Delhi government In Delhi, more than 80,000 people have taken benefit of this scheme and 80 percent of pilgrims who are part of the scheme are women and senior citizens, he added.
