The inaugural train from holy city of Amritsar in Punjab and Takht Sri Hazoor Sahib in Maharashtra would be flagged off on January 1 next.
Punjab's Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal would flag off the train carrying devotees from Amritsar to Takht Sri Hazoor Sahib.
Presiding over a high-level meeting here, the Deputy CM said that besides this pilgrimage yatra, another train would be flagged off from Talwandi Sabo on January 4 next while on January 8, one other train would carry the devotees from Sri Anandpur Sahib.
Badal said the Punjab government would bear the entire costs of boarding and lodging of all pilgrims, under the Tirath Yatra Scheme (religious pilgrimage) of the Punjab government.
He further informed that this scheme would cost Rs 150 crore to the state exchequer, according to an official release here this evening.
Badal said that after studying the results of trial run, more trains would be launched to carry the pilgrims to Varanasi after January 15.
Deputy Chief Minister said that Malerkotla and Ludhiana have also been selected as stations from where special pilgrimage trains would carry the devotees to Ajmer.
