NEW DELHI: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal along with deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday launched the AAP government’s ‘Mukhya Mantri Tirth Yatra Yojana’ (pilgrimage) for senior citizens.
Referring to himself while addressing the crowd, Kejriwal said, “This son of yours will send you on at least one tirth yatra in your lifetime. Your government has done a lot of development work over the last four-and-a-half years, but sending our senior citizens on a tirth yatra is one of the closest things to my heart.”
The pilgrimage scheme will be the first fully paid pilgrimage for senior citizens aged above 60 years from 12 July to different locations in India.
The Tirth Yojana will include travel, stay, and food for senior citizens. First trip will follow the Delhi-Amritsar-Wagah Border-Anandpur Sahib route via train and starts on the eve of July 12 from Safdarjung railway station and will go on till July 16.
“Every senior citizen has the desire to go on a tirth yatra. We are happy that we have had the good fortune to fulfill your wishes. Deputy Chief Minister and I along with our families will go to Vaishno Devi on July 20,” added Kejriwal.
Delhi government approximately plans to send 77,000 people on a first-come-first-served basis. Each year 1,100 beneficiaries from each of the 70 assembly constituencies in Delhi will be sent on pilgrimage.
“This will be my first time to the Golden Temple. CM has made by dream come true, this is a very good scheme,” said 76 year old Omvati, from Shastri Nagar who will be travelling on July 12.