Rajasthan Becomes First State to Offer All-expense-paid Air Pilgrimage to Its Elderly, Raje Flags Off Flight to Tirupati

Apart from Rajasthan while states like MP and Chhattisgarh have been offering all-expense-paid pilgrimage by trains, Raje government has now gone a step further with flying the pilgrims to holy places with its Deendayal Upadhyay Senior Citizens Pilgrimage by Air scheme.

Besides Tirupati Balaji, in days to come Rajasthan Devasthan department will send close to 1000 elderly pilgrims in 26 batches to Rameshwaram, Jagannathpuri. Air tickets for the all-expense-paid pilgrimage are expected to come at a cost of approximately 1.75 crore. The selection of pilgrims for the scheme is through lottery. "Vasundhara has touched our hearts by facilitating our pilgrimage to Tirupati", said Kani Devi before she boarded the flight.

With assembly elections scheduled next year, the free aerial pilgrimage is the second populist scheme in a row by Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje after the Annapurna kitchens offering ultra low cost meals.