The Delhi government is going to once again start the Chief Minister's pilgrimage scheme, which was closed during the Covid period. This was announced by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal through a press conference on Wednesday. During this, he made two big announcements. He told that now Ayodhya will also be included in this list of yatras. Along with this, a church of Christians is also being added to the huge demand of the people.
Kejriwal told that the first batch with about one thousand pilgrims will leave for Ayodhya on December 3. Earlier last month, the Delhi cabinet had approved the proposal related to the inclusion of Ayodhya in the scheme. Kejriwal said that if the number of pilgrims going to Ayodhya increases, he will run many trains but no one needs to worry. Kejriwal told that the elders of Delhi can choose any of the 12 places and go there. He can also take an attendant with him. This attendant could also be young.
Kejriwal said that the government can bear all the expenses of travel, hotel, transport, food and drink of the elderly. In this, we have also included Ayodhya. For this, you can register by visiting the e-district portal. Do not worry that if more people register, then not everyone will be able to go. But it is not that if there are more people then we will put many trains but I will make everyone travel.
Kejriwal said that our Christian natives complained that none of their pilgrimages is included in this list. So one of his famous pilgrimages is Velankanni Church, which we are now including in this scheme. After this Christians will also be able to take advantage of the pilgrimage scheme.
Earlier on Tuesday, Kamal Bansal, chairman of the Teerth Yatra Development Committee, told that there was a demand of the senior citizens of Delhi that the scheme should be started again. For this, a large number of applications were sent under the Delhi scheme. The first yatra is going to Ayodhya. There will be about one thousand pilgrims on the train. It is worth noting that the Delhi government had started this scheme on 9 January 2018. Before the start of Corona, about 35000 senior citizens had made the pilgrimage on different routes. Now the scheme is starting afresh.
