Will launch more pilgrim sites to visit for elders: Ashok Gehlot

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday said his government will be adding more pilgrim sites under the Senior Citizen Pilgrimage Scheme launched in 2013 as tribute to the elders of the society. He also said since 2020, more than 86,000 people travelled under the Moksh Kalash Yojana to immerse ashes of their kin. The scheme that allows free bus travel to at most two kin of the deceased for the immersion of ashes was started in 2020 when the COVID pandemic hit the world. The scheme has now been made permanent.

Gehlot was addressing passengers travelling to Rameshwaram-Madurai under the Senior Citizen Pilgrimage Scheme from Durgapura Railway Station in Jaipur.

Since August 2013, 1.17 lakh senior citizens have availed the benefit of the service, an official statement said. According to the budget announcement this year, 40,000 people will travel to different pilgrim sites this year, the release said. Gehlot said each coach of the train will have two government employees, one doctor, and two nursing personnel, to serve the passengers. He said that a grant of Rs 1 lakh is provisioned by the state government for each passenger going on the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and Rs 10,000 for the passengers visiting the Indus River.

The temples are being renovated by his government and the honorarium of priests has also been increased, he said. Devasthan Minister Shakuntala Rawat said Rs 5.93 crore has been sanctioned by the state government for the renovation of 593 temples in the state.

Under the Senior Citizen Pilgrimage Scheme-2023, the first train departed from Durgapura Railway Station in Jaipur to Rameswaram. There are about 520 passengers from Jaipur and 340 from Kota.