MARGAO
The government’s Mukhyamantri Dev Darshan Yatra Yojana scheme finally took off on Monday with the maiden charter train leaving for the Temple town of Tirupati, with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant saying the scheme will help raise the happiness index.
The second charter train under the Chief Minister’s scheme is set to leave for the pilgrim centre of Vailankanni on November 20.
The Chief Minister flagged off the train to Tirupati at Margao railway station amidst Social Welfare Minister Subhash Phaldessai, PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral, Congress-turned-BJP MLAs Digambar Kamat, Aleixo Sequeira, Rudolf Fernandes, Krishna Salkar and others.
The charter train with a capacity to carry 1,000 pilgrims left the Margao railway station on Monday evening. The government will spend Rs 10,500 on each pilgrim, which would cover expenses for travel, food and stay during the yatra.
A doctor, police security, besides caretakers will be accompanying the pilgrims to the pilgrim centre.
Addressing the pilgrims at the Margao railway station on Monday, Sawant said the objective behind the scheme was to ensure that the elders need not ask their children for money to go on a pilgrimage.
“The scheme will take care of your travel, food and stay without spending any money. You need not bother about anything. Bhivpachi garaz na,” he said.
Saying the yatra will help people realise their dream of going on a pilgrimage to Tirupati, Vailankanni or Shirdi, the Chief Minister said the pilgrimage will help increase the happiness index of the elders and help them to live a happy life.
“This government not only lay stress on infrastructure development but also on raising the happiness index of the citizens,” he said.
The Chief Minister said the scheme was unveiled before the Assembly polls but was kept on hold to ward off criticism that it was worked out with an eye on the elections.
“I had full confidence in the people of Goa that they would get the BJP back to power. I know you all must have voted for the party in the election even though the scheme was not implemented in the run-up to the polls,” he said.
Subhash Phaldessai pointed out that he took the initiative to implement the scheme by scouting for pilgrims to Tirupati from the Sanguem constituency. “The initiative was a success since around 700 eligible citizens gave their applications for the pilgrimage,” he said.
Nilesh Cabral said he does not doubt that the scheme will be a success with around 1,000 pilgrims registering for the pilgrimage to Tirupati.
