Punjab launches free pilgrimage scheme; SAD says it’s a replica of Parkash Badal’s scheme

However, senior SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema said that this scheme was conceptualised by the Akali Dal government led by Parkash Singh Badal in 2015 and it was launched on January 1, 2016, in Amritsar when the first train carrying pilgrims left for Takht Sri Hazur Sahib. This scheme had run successfully till March 2017, but after the formation of Congress government, it was stopped without rhyme or reason, he added. Meanwhile, marking the launch of the scheme on Monday, which happened to be Guru Nanak Jayanti, an AC train carrying 1,300 passengers left Amritsar for Hazur Sahib in Nanded (Maharashtra).

“At least 300 passengers have boarded the train from Amritsar, 240 from Jalandhar and about 500 from Dhuri. This is a first-of-its-kind scheme launched by the AAP government in Delhi and now in Punjab. Our trains and AC buses will run weekly. They will go to Hazur Sahib, Varanasi, Vrindavan, Ajmer Sharif, Patna Sahib, Takht Damdama Sahib, Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib, Vaishno Devi, Chintpurni and other pilgrimage centres. There may be people from the Opposition who might find faults with everything. I am not bothered about them because you all are here to reply to them. When people are our advocates, there is no need to worry about anything,” Mann said, addressing a public meeting in Dhuri.

Bus of pilgrims being flagged off by Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal from Dhuri. (Express Photo)

The train coming from Amritsar had a stop at Dhuri. Mann and Kejriwal flagged off 10 buses from the rally venue to Dhuri railway station from where the passengers boarded the train.

On the occasion Mann also announced the door-to-door delivery of wheat and pulses to ration card holders.
Kejriwal said, “In the 75 years of Independence, AAP is the only government that has started a pilgrimage scheme this way. In Delhi, already over 80,000 people have availed of this facility and more will do so in the coming months. Now in Punjab too, this scheme has been started by the AAP government. We will be bearing the cost of travel, board and lodging, and everything else. The entire train is AC and even the buses are AC, so will be the stay at the pilgrimage centres. This scheme is for senior citizens. The past governments too had money but the leaders were busy filling their own coffers. We are using that money for public benefits as you all have chosen an honest government… We spend on your power bills, your education, medicines, pilgrimage and many other schemes. This government is being run with the blessings of you all,” he added.

“We are a poor party and we do not have any bank balance. Whosoever benefits from these welfare schemes blesses us and gives us the strength to run the government. Mann is your own son who is taking you all to pilgrimage sites. In a nutshell, we survive on your blessings. This tour to Hazur Sahib is of six days. There may be a few shortcomings as well; I apologise in advance if anything is left out unintentionally,” the Delhi CM said.

It was the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) government that started the pilgrimage scheme in 2016, a year before the Assembly polls, said SAD spokesperson Arshdeep Singh Kler. The then government had spent Rs 187 crore on it in one year, but Parkash Singh Badal used to launch such schemes without much fanfare, he added.

“But the AAP has spent a huge amount of taxpayers’ money to organise this rally. The free power scheme is also a replica of a scheme started by Badal saab. When everything is being done by copying our ideas from the past, Mann and Kejriwal need to say – what is original in their ideas. In fact, their contribution is a Rs 50,000-crore public debt, drug mafias, and law and order issues,” he said.

Mann refused to talk about “anything political today”. “I just want to tell you all that the Vidhan Sabha’s winter session is going to start from Tuesday and we will be bringing many Bills for farmers, traders and others. Now there is no need to talk about people who have already been finished by the masses in the polls. They did not come to the open debate on November 1… Do watch the winter session as it is live and see whether your MLA is asking the queries related to your area or not,” the CM said.