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Mukh Mantri Tirath Yatra scheme: No plan to send devotees by air, Punjab govt tells HC
Responding to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed last year, Punjab state transport commissioner Moneesh Kumar said that various representations were received from MLAs, requesting the government to arrange visits of their constituents to various religious places across the country.
The Punjab government has told the Punjab and Haryana high court that there is no plan to send devotees by air under the Mukh Mantri Tirath Yatra scheme.
Responding to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed last year, Punjab state transport commissioner Moneesh Kumar said that various representations were received from MLAs, requesting the government to arrange visits of their constituents to various religious places across the country.
The scheme was launched on November 27, which involved running 13 trains, each accommodating 1,000 devotees, over a period of 13 weeks. Besides this, 10 buses, each carrying 43 passengers, runs every day, taking devotees to various pilgrimage destinations.
In the plea, Parvinder Singh Kittna of Hoshiarpur termed the scheme a “wastage of the taxpayers’ money” while arguing that it does not result in any development or welfare.
Acting on the plea, the court had asked why the scheme should not be stayed.
Referring to various programmes of the government, the transport commissioner stated that since April 2022, the government has provided over 38,000 jobs and rolled out 664 Aam Aadmi clinics in a phased manner. Further, the government made a budget provision of ₹1,969 crore under various health sector schemes for the year 2023-24, thus underscoring the fact that equal importance was given to different sectors.
As of the Tirath scheme, the government stated that it was to facilitate all the residents of Punjab and that prior nod was taken from the planning department, department of finance and the state cabinet.
“The scheme so formulated is secular and for the benefit of all residents of the state, irrespective of their religion, caste, colour and creed etc.,” the government stated.
The PIL on this issue is not maintainable as the scheme is “inclusive” and government can only be faulted on the touchstone of being discriminatory and being against the fundamental rights of the citizens, it was stated.
A budgetary provision has been made of ₹40 crore for current financial year and 34,850 pilgrims have already availed the benefits, the government said while citing similar schemes launched by Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, New Delhi and Odisha.
