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The Delhi government will send senior citizens of the city on free pilgrimage to Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan on January 5 next year, an official statement said on Friday. Kartarpur Sahib and Velankanni Church in Tamil Nadu have been added to the Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra Yojna' after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's orders, it said. The first batch of pilgrims to Kartarpur Sahib will leave on January 5, 2022 in a deluxe bus from Delhi, and the first train for Velankanni Church will leave on January 7 next year, it said. Meanwhile, Delhi Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot reviewed preparations for the pilgrimages under the scheme in a high-level meeting on Friday. "The Delhi government has decided to add two more routes in addition to the existing 13 yatra routes -- Delhi-Velankanni-Delhi and Delhi-Kartarpur Sahib-Delhi -- under its Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra scheme, the statement said. The devotees will travel in AC-III tier trains on the Delhi-Velankanni-Delhi route whereas for the ...
Several pilgrims travelled through the Kartarpur Corridor on Wednesday and others made plans to offer prayers at the historic Sikh shrine in Pakistan as the route reopened after a 20-month gap. Kanwaljeet Sodhi, a resident of Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur, said, "There were no limits to our happiness when we came to know of the reopening of the Kartarpur Corridor and this joy cannot be described in words." Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said on Tuesday that the government has decided to reopen the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor from Wednesday. The Kartarpur Corridor links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, the final resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district. Gurpurab, which marks the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, will be celebrated on November 19. Pilgrimage to the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara was suspended in March 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. The Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI) said the pilgrimage to the Kartarpur Sahib