BHOPAL: BJP-ruled MP, became the first state in the country on Sunday, to start free pilgrimage service by air for financially weak elderlies. And seeing off the 32 elderly pilgrims, including 24 men and eight women (all from Bhopal) at the Bhopal Airport on the inaugural free pilgrimage flight destined for Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh) was the MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan himself.
After the pilgrimage at Prayagraj, the pilgrims will return to Bhopal by Monday evening.
Emotional scenes of the elderly men and women blessing the MP CM, while chanting the religious slogan 'Har Har Gange' and many of them equating Chouhan with Shrawan Kumar (mythological character of Ramayana who carried elderly parents on pilgrimage on his shoulders) were witnessed at the airport before the regular Indigo flight took off with the pilgrims under the CM Teerth Darshan Yojana.
“Pilgrimage by air has been started with the aim that our elders can attain spiritual peace by going on pilgrimage in less time conveniently. At present, a member from each family can go on pilgrimage by plane under the Mukhyamantri Teerth Darshan Yojana. From the next visit, arrangements will be made for more than one member from a family to go on pilgrimage, so that elders will be able to get the virtue of pilgrimage along with their spouse,” the CM said.
“PM Modi has said that our government has made such arrangements that even those wearing slippers will be able to travel by air. This is an attempt to make the PM’s vision come true,” Chouhan said.