Chandigarh, June 22: Capt Amarinder Singh-led Congress government has scrapped the ‘Mukh Mantri Tirath Darshan Yatra’ scheme started by the Shiromani Akali Dal–BJP regime. Talking about the pilgrimage scheme, Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said in the Vidhan Sabha “We have stopped the scheme,” on Wednesday during the question hour, replying to a query from Congress MLA Parminder Singh Pinki.
The scheme was a pet project of the previous chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.
A full stop on the scheme could have invited a sharp reaction from the Akali MLAs but none of them were present at that time as they had staged a walkout over alleged casteist remarks by Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu against MLA Pawan Tinu.
Manpreet said of a total of Rs 139 crore spent on the scheme, Rs 4.84 crore was spent on taking pilgrims to Chintpurni in Himachal Pradesh, Salasar in Rajasthan (Rs 11.91 crore), Anandpur Sahib (Rs 3.37 crore), Mata Vaishno Devi (Rs 19 lakh), Darbar Sahib Amritsar (Rs 64.81 crore), Patna Sahib (Rs 2.23 crore), Nanded Sahib in Maharashtra (Rs 87 lakh), Varanasi (Rs 18 lakh and Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan (Rs 3 lakh).
He did not specify the reasons behind scrapping the scheme, adding that there are other important matters concerning the state than pilgrimage.
News Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com
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