Delhi Government’s free pilgrimage scheme suspended temporarily due to lack of trains

Delhi Government’s free pilgrimage scheme has been temporarily suspended due to non-availability of trains. As per the updates, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that he will have a discussion with the Centre to resume this scheme again.

Referring to this, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia stated that the Mukhyamantri Teertha Yatra has been suspended as of now as IRCTC (Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation) has conveyed to Delhi Government that rakes were not available for the said scheme for ‘reasons best known to it’.
However, while briefing the press, Sisodia said that the scheme will remain suspended till trains or other alternatives are available. As per the scheme, the Delhi Government was providing free pilgrimage facilities to senior citizens on 12 religious circuits.

IRCTC, in a letter to the Delhi Government, has already conveyed that the proposed trains under the scheme stands cancelled from December 10 onwards due to non-availability of rakes with the Railways. Sisodia further informed that the government is exploring possibilities to cover shorter distance destinations under the scheme through buses. As per the schedule that had been planned by the Delhi Government and IRCTC, 30 trains are pending between December 10, 2019, and January 28, 2020. Reports also suggest that the pending trips include around 12 trains to Rameshwaram and six to Dwarkadhish.

The said scheme was launched on July 12, under which around 32828 elderly persons have gone on pilgrimage in 32 trips so far. And, as per the records, the most popular destination was Rameshwaram, with nearly 25 per cent of the total pilgrims visiting the place, followed by Tirupati, Vaishno Devi, Dwarkadhish, Amritsar among others.