The State Government’s ‘Mukhyamantri Theerth Yatra Yojana’ has been postponed till February 10, officials stated. The Directorate of Social Welfare, Raipur, has issued a circular to all the district Collectors on January 19 informing them of the stopping of pilgrimage tours.
The tours have been stalled due to the ongoing Model Code of Conduct with regard to the Panchayat polls in the State. The State Government’s scheme includes 80 per cent senior citizens of BPl category and 20 per cent senior citizens of APl, who are non income-taxpayers.
Officials informed in the meeting that ‘Mukhyamantri Teerth Yatra Yojana’ was launched on January 15, 2013. Under the scheme, 66 tours were held in four phases in 2013-14. As many as 18,946 passengers in first phase, 19,238 passengers in second phase, 9,123 passengers in third phase and 10,155 passengers in fourth phase were taken on free tour to major pilgrimage spots in the country.
This includes tours to Shirdi, Shani-Singhnapur, Trayambakeshwar, Tirupati, Madurai, Rameshwaram, Dwarika, Somnath, Nageshwar, Jagannathpuri, Bhuvaneshwar, Ujjain, Omkareshwar, Haridwar, Hrishikesh, Vaishnav Devi, Mathura, Vrindavan, Prayag, Kashi, Velangani church Nagapatnam, Samvedshikhar, Baijnath Dham, Shravan Belgola, Golden Temple Amritsar, Ganga Sagar, Kali Mandir Dakshineshwar, Sarnath and Nalanda.
Special trains are arranged for passengers going on tours under the scheme, with the help of IRCTC-an undertaking of Central Government. Buses are arranged to take passengers from Railway station to pilgrimage spots, which are not directly connected through Railway routes. IRCTC also provides facility of breakfast, lunch, drinking water, accommodation and emergency medical services to the passengers.