MUMBAI: A day after the announcement of the budget in the state legislative assembly, CM Eknath Shinde announced the CM Teerth Yojana for senior citizens in the legislative assembly. He was responding to a Calling Attention Motion raised by his party MLA Pratap Sarnaik on Saturday seeking govt aid for the poor to go on a pilgrimage. Under the scheme, senior citizens belonging to Hindu, Jain, Sikh and Buddhist religions will be sent to pilgrimage sites using funds from the state exchequer.

“There are thousands of senior citizens who want to go on pilgrimage such as ‘Char Dham’ yatra (tour of four holy sites- Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath) among others but are deprived of it owing to their weak financial position. The state government will make it possible for them by sending them on pilgrimage at our own expense,” the chief minister announced in the state assembly.

The policy and rules of the scheme will be formulated and senior citizens will be sent on a rotation basis, Shinde said adding that they will see how many of them can be sent in a year and accordingly several senior citizens will be fixed who are going to get the benefit of the scheme. He also said that the application for the scheme will be made online. Shinde said that for the first time, the govt had announced Rs 20,000 for every Dindi going to Pandharpur on a pilgrimage. The pilgrims include women, farmers, youth, and senior citizens, all of whom will benefit, he said.

Shinde said a policy will be framed wherein senior citizens can apply online to avail of the scheme. "Around 5,000-10,000 people will be sent on the govt aided pilgrimage annually. The scheme will be implemented immediately," he said. The CM Teerth Yojana for senior citizens is in addition to several schemes announced by the state government during the state budget for 2024-25 presented by the deputy chief minister and the state Finance Ajit Pawar on Friday which has proposed a slew of many welfare benefits.