New Delhi, Dec 11 (UNI) Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday informed that Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra Yojana (MMTY) is temporarily suspended, as the IRCTC intimated the Delhi government of the cancellation of trains scheduled from December 10, 2019 onwards.
Addressing the mediapersons, along with Kamal Bansal, Chairman of Teerth Yatra Yojana, Mr Sisodia said,'Yesterday, IRCTC informed us that it is canceling the trains of Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra Yojana due to the non-availability of rakes. We will discuss this issue with IRCTC and the honourable Railway minister, and try to resolve it soon.'
'Since July this year, Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra Yojana has been going well with the cooperation of the Indian railways. We had undertaken an MoU with IRCTC for the same. This scheme provided the elderly people in Delhi an invaluable opportunity to go for pilgrimage with the complete financial support of the Delhi government and thereby fulfilling one of their precious dreams. We hope that this unexpected difficulty will be resolved soon,' the Deputy CM said.
'From July 2019 onwards, 32828 elderly pilgrims from Delhi visited 10 pilgrim destinations in 34 trips. The most popular destination is Rameshwaram as 7865 people (nearly 25 per cent of the total pilgrims) visited the place in 8 trips. Tirupati (4923 visitors in 5 trips) Dwarkadhish (4857 visitors in 5 trips), Vaishno Devi (3911 visitors in 4 trips) and Amritsar (3845 visitors in 4 trips) are the next popular destinations respectively. Apart from these places, Tirth Yatra Yojana also covers Shirdi, Puri, Ujjain, and Ajmer. Out of 63,435 applicants, more than 50 per cent (32828) could avail the benefits of this scheme within just five months,' he said.
'There are 12 trips to Rameshwaram and six trips to Dwarkadhish among the 30 trips pending. We are in touch with IRCTC and asked for time to meet Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, to discuss and resolve this issue. Meantime, we will explore the scope of using buses for destinations of shorter distance. The details of the canceled trips will be officially communicated to the pilgrims,' the Deputy CM added.
UNI PY ADG 1511