Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Thirty two senior citizens from Madhya Pradesh on Sunday left from here for Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh on free pilgrimage by air under a scheme of the MP government.
This is the first time that beneficiaries of the Mukhyamantri Tirth-Darshan Yojana in MP are travelling by air, as per government officials.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan reached Bhopal's Raja Bhoj Airport in the morning to greet the 32 senior citizens, comprising 24 men and eight women.
The scheme was launched by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime in 2012 and senior citizens were being sent for pilgrimage free of cost by special trains.
Chouhan recently announced that air travel facility will also be included in this scheme.
Madhya Pradesh is the first state to provide the air travel facility to senior citizens for pilgrimage, government officials said.
More than 7 lakh pilgrims benefited so far
So far, 7.82 lakh senior citizens have availed the benefit of the pilgrimage scheme, they said.
Under the first phase of the air travel facility, senior citizens from MP will travel by air in different batches till July this year from various airports of the state, the officials said.
Next up, Shirdi, Mathura-Vrindavan, Gangasagar
In the same sequence, on May 23 pilgrims of Agar-Malwa district will leave from Indore airport for Shirdi. While on May 25, pilgrims of Betul district will leave from Bhopal airport via Agra airport for Mathura-Vrindavan. On May 26, pilgrims of Dewas will leave from Indore airport for Shirdi, and on June 3 pilgrims of Khandwa from Indore airport via Kolkata for Gangasagar.
A help centre has been set up at the airport for the convenience of the passengers.
