Continuing its pro-people endeavors, the Punjab government led by the Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has launched the ambitious ‘Mukh Mantri Teerth Yatra Scheme’ to facilitate the people in paying obeisance at the various religious places.
The scheme launched today is a boon for many such residents in the state who cannot travel to the major pilgrimage sites of Punjab and India due to varying ages and lack of financial means. To fulfill the dreams of these residents, this scheme has been started by the state government led by the Chief Minister. As a part of this scheme a provision has been made to enable the residents of Punjab to travel to pilgrimage places of Punjab and across India through AC buses and AC trains.
The scheme envisages two types of means of travel, the mode of travel for long distance religious places is by train and the mode of travel for short distance is by road and buses. The places of travel for the train will be Sri Hajur Sahib, Sri Patna Sahib, Hindu pilgrimage site Varanasi, Mathura, Sri Vrindavan Dham and Islamic religious site Sri Ajmer Sharif. As many as 13 AC trains will be sent to various religious places during this financial year and each train will carry 1000 passengers.
For the comfort of the pilgrims during the trip, facilities such as food, local travel, welcome kit and accommodation will be provided free of cost to the pilgrims. The places to travel by AC buses are Sri Amritsar Sahib, Sri Anandpur Sahib, Sri Damdama Sahib Talwandi Sabo, Mata Vaishnu Devi, Mata Jwalaji, Mata Chintapurni ji, Mata Naina Devi ji, Sri Khatu Shyam ji and Salasar Balaji Dham ji. During the pilgrimage of these places AC accommodation and meals will be provided locally.
To facilitate the passengers, all of them will be provided with a welcome kit which will contain bag, sheet, blanket, pillow, paste, oil, soap, shampoo, brush, umbrella, mirror and others. The state government has kept a Budget of about Rs 40 crore during the financial year 2023-24 for this ambitious scheme. Pertinently, all residents of Punjab are eligible to avail this scheme and the pilgrims will be selected by the Deputy Commissioners of the concerned district.