Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and their families will join a group of senior citizens for pilgrimage to Vaishno Devi on July 20, being organised under the 'Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra Yojana'.
Interacting with pilgrims selected under the scheme, Kejriwal said the Delhi government-funded pilgrimage scheme is the most sacred of all the works done by his dispensation so far.
The chief minister will launch the Delhi government's first and fully-funded religious pilgrimage on July 12 by flagging off a train ferrying 1,000 pilgrims on the Delhi-Amritsar-Wagah Border-Anandpur Sahib tour circuit. The second tour on the Delhi-Vaishno Devi-Jammu corridor, will be from July 20 to 24.
"Manish Sisodia and I, along with our families, will join you (pilgrims) for the Delhi-Vaishno Devi pilgrimage on July 20 to take blessings of Vaishno Devi," Kejriwal told the gathering and slammed accused his political opponents for "indulging in politics over this scheme".
The chief minister also said that he would ensure every senior citizen in Delhi gets at least one pilgrimage in his life.
There are five corridors selected under the scheme so far -- Delhi-Mathura-Vrindavan-Agra-Fatehpur Sikri, Delhi-Haridwar-Rishikesh-Neelkanth, Delhi -Ajmer-Pushkar, Delhi-Amritsar-Wagah Border-Anandpur Sahib and Delhi-Vaishno Devi-Jammu.
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Under the 'Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra scheme', the government will bear the entire expenditure for all pilgrims, including air conditioned train travel, accommodation, meals and other arrangements. One attendant above the age of 21 can accompany each pilgrim.
The government is also planning to expand the scheme and has received requests for Tirupati Balaji, Rameshwaram and Shirdi pilgrimage.