Punjab: RTI reply – For tirath yatra, govt pays Rs 1,855 per day per person

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A whopping Rs 46.50 crore has already been spent on this scheme in financial year 2015-16, another Rs 140 crore has been set aside for 2016-17, as announced by Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa. The scheme is going to cost the Punjab government close to Rs 187 crore.

On average, trains under this scheme are ferrying 1,000 pilgrims to shrines like Sri Hazoor Sahib, Ajmer Sharif, Varanasi and recently a train also went to Chennai carrying Christian pilgrims.

This adds up to Rs 18.55 lakh per day for one day journey, which is being borne by the Punjab government under this scheme.

On Sunday, a train carrying 1,000 passengers left from Ludhiana railway station for Sri Hazoor Sahib (Nanded).

The government has proposed that the state-owned Punjab Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) will be ferrying pilgrims to Salasar in Rajasthan and Chintpurni in Himachal Pradesh — again free of cost.

Already running in losses, PRTC will also be arranging for accommodation and food for the pilgrims, according to information procured by a city-based RTI activist. The bus service to Salasar has already started.

Transport Minister Ajit Singh Kohar claims that “even if funds of Rs 140 crore are exhausted, God will provide more funds and scheme will continue”.

“This scheme has broken all the records. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is ecstatic at the response that we have received. I can confidently say that even if Rs 140 crore proposed for this year are exhausted, this scheme will continue,” Kohar told The Indian Express.

Asked how the government will afford funds for this scheme, he said, “I do not know but they will be arranged anyhow. You know it is all God’s will.”

“God will be providing funds to make people reach His home. It is a noble cause. I assure people that there will be no dearth of funds for this scheme. Soon, buses for Salasar and Chintpurni will also begin,” the minister added.

The Punjab government had also tried getting funds from the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) for this scheme but their request was turned down as it “violated the rules”.

The freebies scheme is already under the Punjab and Haryana High Court scanner — in Modgill Fashion Exports vs State of Punjab case, the HC has raised a objection that the government has not paid pending subsidies to industries but has funds to launch freebies schemes like Tirath Yatra.

Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kausal, in an affidavit submitted to the High Court, has said that the “government of Punjab has provided an additional budget (plan) of Rs 46.50 crore for this scheme 2015-16”.

The court then questioned the government how it provided budget for this scheme under planned expenditure at the fag end of the financial year and what the source of funding was, considering that Punjab was failing to make even regular payments.

The CM had started this scheme to save his party’s face following a month of protests in the state over multiple incidents of Guru Granth Sahib desecration in October last year.