New Delhi: Under-privileged senior citizens from minority community can also undertake pilgrimage free of cost under a state government scheme recently launched, Tourism Minister Amar Kumar Bauri said in Jamshedpur on Wednesday.
“We have made arrangements for Below Poverty Line (BPL) families from minority community including Muslims and Christians to take them to their respective places of pilgrimage under the Mukhya Mantri Teerth Darshan Yojana,” he said.
While the members of Muslim community can undertake pilgrimage to places such as Ajmer Sharif, Christians can visit Goa, he said.
The minister was in the steel city to hold a meeting with the East Singhbhum district officials to review the preparation ahead of the second batch of pilgrimage yatra from Kolhan division to be flagged off from Tatanagar station on November 18.
The second batch consisting of 1,000 senior citizens from BPL families would visit Puri. The government has already identified such families, who will make their two-day pilgrimage trip to Puri on November 18, he said.
The scheme was launched following an agreement between the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and Jharkhand Tourism Development Corporation.