Around 5k Kashi pilgrims to enjoy benefits of free travel from 2019

At a rally recently held in honour of the 641st birth anniversary of the Hindu Saint Ravidas in Kaithal, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar declared that the state government will allow free travel from Haryana to Kashi in Uttar Pradesh to passengers belonging to the backward classes.
During the rally, the Haryana CM said that the free of cost travel facilities to Kashi pilgrims will be given on first-come, first-served basis. The scheme will be valid only for passengers travelling in the Indian Railways from 2019. Each year, starting from 2019, around 5K people will be able to afford this opportunity.

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Glimpses of Varanasi

In 2017, the Haryana government had put on tracks two trains especially to ferry pilgrims from Ambala and Sirsa on December 22 to Patna Sahib Gurudwara in Bihar in order to be a part of the concluding ceremony of 350th Prakash Utsav of Guru Gobind Singh. Prior to that, in 2016, the BJP government in Punjab had allowed free religious railway tours to people from 117 assembly constituencies of Punjab under the ‘Mukh Mantri Tirath Darshan Yatra Scheme’. According to news reports, on this scheme alone, INR 139 crore was shelled out.

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How to reach Varanasi

Guru Ravidas Jayanti will be celebrated on Wednesday, January 31, 2018. Ravidas aka Raidas was a cobbler by profession and a celebrated mystic immensely popular among the underprivileged classes of India. He is also known as the holy preceptor of Saint Mira Bai, the erstwhile queen of Chittorgarh.