Hoshiarpur: On Monday evening, MLA Brahm Shankar Jimpa flagged off three buses carrying pilgrims from various areas of Hoshiarpur to visit Shri Khatu Shyam-Salasar Balaji, Haridwar-Rishikesh, and Mathura-Vrindavan under the Chief Minister's Pilgrimage Scheme. Extending his best wishes to the pilgrims on this occasion, MLA Jimpa stated that under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, the Punjab government is continuously providing facilities for the people of the state to visit religious sites.
MLA Jimpa mentioned that so far, approximately 4 lakh elderly citizens from Punjab have undertaken journeys to various religious sites through this scheme. He noted that Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann and Aam Aadmi Party National Convener Arvind Kejriwal had recently launched new pilgrimage routes from Hoshiarpur, enabling pilgrims to visit major religious sites across the country.
He explained that pilgrims aged 50 years and above are eligible to avail the benefits of the Chief Minister's Pilgrimage Scheme. The government provides travel in AC sleeper buses, accommodation, and meals entirely free of cost to the travelers. He remarked that this initiative offers the elderly and pilgrims an opportunity to visit holy sites associated with their faith without any financial burden.
Brahm Shankar Jimpa added that prior to this, thousands of pilgrims from Hoshiarpur have already been facilitated to visit various religious sites, including Mata Chintpurni Ji, Naina Devi, Shri Anandpur Sahib, and Shri Durgiana Mandir. He inspected the arrangements made for the passengers inside the buses and interacted with the pilgrims to inquire about the facilities provided. Dignitaries present on the occasion included Mayor Praveen Saini, Hoshiarpur Cooperative Bank Chairman Vikram Sharma, Councilors Pradeep Bittu, Malkit Singh, Neelam Rani, Anjana Burmi, Ajay Verma, Baljit Kaur, and Kulvinder Singh Hundal; as well as Joginder Raja, former Councilor Sudarshan Dhir, Bhupinder Singh, Rakesh Kumar Kalia, Raju Burmi, Pramod Sharma, Dhyan Chand Dhyana, and Harvinder Harry.