In this election year the Samajwadi Party led Government has planned to arrange for free pilgrimage for senior citizens across country. Under the scheme, the state government will hire special trains and bear the expenses of fooding, lodging and transport. Madhya Pradesh is, perhaps, the only state in the country to provide such facility.
To start with, the first such pilgrimage has been planned from lucknow to Ajmer where the devotees from all the sections can go to Ajmet Sharif and Pushkar. The local conveyance and other facilities will also be provided by the state government, Navneet Sahgal, the Principal Secretary of UP religious affairs department, told reporters here.
He said the proposal had already been submitted in the government for necessary approvals. A total of one thousand pilgrims, all senior citizens, would be accommodated in Ajmer-bound train and could board the trains from lucknow, Kanpur, Ghaziabad and other stations, he added.