The 73rd pilgrimage train, organised under the ‘Mukhyamantri Teerth-Yatra Yojna’ by the Kejriwal government, set out from Delhi on Saturday.
There were 780 senior citizens onboard who embarked on the journey to Shri Dwarkadhish.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal handed over travel tickets and kits to the participants.
As part of the Teerth-Yatra Yojna, an evening of soulful devotion comprising Bhajan ‘Sandhya’ was organised at the Tyagraj Stadium. The CM met with each pilgrim and sought their blessings.
Kejriwal congratulated the pilgrims, at Tyagraj Stadium, on commencing their journey to the Shri Dwarkadhish for their ‘Teerth Yatra’.
“We started this ‘Teerth Yatra’ scheme 2-3 years ago. When we used to go amongst the people, we saw that there are a lot many people who don’t have money for the pilgrimage. In the Hindu Dharma, it’s said that it’s a ritual to do at least one pilgrimage. For these people who don’t have enough with resources, this scheme provides them an opportunity to do at least one pilgrimage in their lifetime. There are many people who have enough resources but they cannot go on their own, they don’t have any support. So, Delhi Government has initiated the scheme which helps them to take a young one who can look after them”, Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal further assured pilgrims of more pilgrimage opportunities to nearby pilgrimage sites via luxury buses.
So far 72 trains have been sent carrying 71,000 pilgrims under the scheme.
“I want to send each elderly citizen of Delhi for the pilgrimage who is older than 60 years, I want to make sure that everyone has completed one round of the Teerth Yatra and then will start round two. But, due to the shortage of trains we are not able to do this as quick as we want to. We have asked for trains from the Central Government and they have granted us as much as they could but still, that is not enough. We will try to cover the pilgrimages near Delhi by Luxury Buses. At least till Ayodhya Ji we can arrange buses for the Teerth Yatra, we’ll ensure luxury, Air Conditioned buses with due requisites so that pilgrims can travel to near pilgrimage sites such as Haridwar, Rishikesh, Mathura Vrindavan, Ayodhya, etc,” Kejriwal said.
