Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik flagged off the 8th trip of Baristha Nagarika Tirtha Yatra Yojana (BNTYY) from Bhubaneswar Railway Station today.
According to an official press release, this is the 8th trip of the BNTYY pilgrimage train approved during 2023-24. A total of 1000 (960 nos. of pilgrims along with 40 nos. of Escort Officers) from the district of Khordha, Cuttack, Puri, Kendrapara, Jagatsingpur and Dhenkanal will visit Tirupati-Vellore.
This is the 8th year of this BNTYY from its inception in the year 2016-17. The scheme was launched by the State Government to enable the poor and deprived senior citizens of the State to realise their lifelong dream of having one Tirtha Yatra (Pilgrimage) to fulfilment of their spiritual aspirations with the support of the State Government.
So far, 27 such trips have been organized in collaboration with IRCTC under this Yojana benefiting more than 26,669 Senior Citizens (including Escort Officers) having the age group of 60 to 75 years of the State.
This is the 28th trip and a total of 27,669 nos of pilgrims have availed this scheme as of today.
The dignitaries present in the flagging off ceremony from Bhubaneswar were Prafulla Kumar Mallik, Minister, Steel & Mines, Works, Aswini Kumar Patra, Minister, Tourism, OLLC, Sulochana Das, Mayor, BMC, Lenin Mohanty, Chairman, OTDC, Durga Prasad Samantaray, Advisor, BNTYY, Balamukunda Bhuyan, Addl. Secretary, Tourism Department and other officials.
