Bhubaneswar, July 23: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Thursday gave hid nod to the ‘Pilgrimage scheme’ for elderly people fulfilling another promise his party had made in its 2014 election manifesto.
Chairing a meeting in this regard, the Chief Minister said the state tourism department will be the nodal department for the implementation of the scheme.
The scheme will now be implemented in the state to facilitate elderly people aged 60 and above to visit religious places across the country in train and bus.
The state government will bear the travel, food and living expenditure and will also provide free healthcare to the pilgrims during their pilgrimage (both in and outside of the state) under this scheme.
However, it was decided that an elderly person will be entitled to avail the benefit of the scheme only once. Besides, elderly persons filing Income Tax returns and retired government employees wouldn’t be allowed to avail benefits of the scheme.
At the May 22 review of the performance of the tourism department’s last one year performance, Patnaik had asked the department to come up with a blueprint in this regard.
Thursday’s meeting revealed that for the smooth implementation of the proposed scheme, the Orissa Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with IRCTC shortly.
Interested persons will be required to fill up a particular form and for the identification of the proper beneficiaries a committee will be formed at state-level under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary. Committees will also be formed at district level to be headed by collectors of the concerned districts.