Mumbai: A slew of relaxations, offered by the Mahayuti government for Mukhya Mantri Teerth Darshan Yojana, is all set to attract hundreds of people to embark on pilgrimage at the cost of the state exchequer.
The state government has issued an order of the list of changes which makes the scheme more and more attractive. It was decided to accept applications online when the first order was issued on July 14 but now, offline applications will be accepted till October 31.
It was decided to accept an income certificate issued by the competent authority to be eligible for the state-sponsored pilgrimage. But now the ration card holders under the category of Antyodaya Food Scheme, card holders from the priority family scheme will also be considered as eligible.
Another major relaxation is set to increase the number of applications which says 1,000 beneficiaries from each of the 36 districts can be selected for the scheme. This relaxation will be given till October 31. Previously it was decided to fix a quota based on the population of the districts and selection of them will be made through a lottery system.
The state will be spending Rs30,000 for each citizen for the pilgrimage which amounts to Rs3 crore for each district of the state. According to the sources from the state administration, it is not clear if the scheme will be implemented during the period of the election code of conduct.
