The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh, which is on a spree of introducing sops for citizens in the poll-bound state, has now introduced air travel under the Mukhyamantri Teerthdarshan Yojana – the free pilgrimage scheme for elderly persons from economically backward sections.
Madhya Pradesh is the first state to facilitate air travel for elderly pilgrims under a government scheme, the government has said.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will see off the first batch of pilgrims under the newly introduced facility at the Raja Bhoj Airport in Bhopal on May 21. The batch of 32 pilgrims will leave for Prayagraj by an Indigo flight. The pilgrims include 24 men and eight women. The direct Indigo flight to Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh) will also be flagged off on the occasion.
The Mukhyamantri Teerth Darshan Yojana is one of the flagship schemes of the Madhya Pradesh government which was introduced in the year 2012, during Chouhan's third term as chief minister, ahead of 2013 polls. So far, about 7.82 lakh elderly persons have undertaken pilgrimage in 782 special trains under the scheme, as per data released by the state government.
A detailed plan for the first phase of the pilgrimage by air has been chalked out for the duration of eight weeks between May and July. Flights will take off to different pilgrimage destinations like Prayagraj, Shirdi (Maharashtra), Mathura-Vrindavan (Uttar Pradesh) and Gangasagar (West Bengal), from and to nearest airports, almost every alternate day between May 21 and July 17.
Elderly pilgrims from Bhopal, Agar-Malwa, Betul, Dewas, Khandwa, Harda, Mandsaur, Narmadapuram, Neemuch, Barwani, Damoh, Burhanpur, Ratlam, Shajapur, Sagar, Khargone, Ujjain, Alirajpur, Rajgarh, Sehore, Dhar, Raisen and Jhabua will benefit under the new facility in the first phase.
The Chouhan-led BJP government in the state is targeting different sections of citizens, trying to provide new sops to them ahead of the polls slated for the end of this year. Women, youth and elderly people are being kept in mind while introducing new schemes or making new provisions in existing ones. The government is also focusing on the development and beautification of famous Hindu religious places in the state.