700 senior citizens from the region going on a pilgrimage to Tirupati, Rameshwaram, Jagannathpuri and Sammed Shikhar will take off from the Jaipur airport on 28th February. Passengers are being sent mobile messages to submit copies of their identity proofs at the earliest by the Devasthan department.

In the first stage of the programme, flight for Tirupati will leave at 1400 hours from Jaipur taking passengers who are 70 years of age and above. The second flight will leave on the 2^nd of March for Rameshwaram.  Flight dates for the other destinations have not yet been finalised. The point of concern is that 1000 senior citizens have to take up the pilgrimage tour, but the department has not yet received the second bid for this purpose. Hence Dwarika, Somnath, Goa, Gaya, Varanasi and Bihar Shareef trips are still not finalised and seem doubtful.

No Trains planned due to less pilgrims

Though the Devasthan department had decided Udaipur, Jaipur, Jodhpur as takeoff points, the cheaper rates given in the bid require the flights to depart from Jaipur. Also since the number of pilgrims travelling by train to Bihar Shareef, Patna Sahib, Shravan Bel Gola, Amritsar, Goa, Sammed Shikhar is very less, the department hasn’t given a clear picture as to how this second phase of pilgrimage will be organised.

Other options being sought

According to Ashok Kumar of the Devasthan Department, other travel options are being thought over for the people travelling by train since their number is less.