Indore | Thirty two senior citizens from Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday left from Indore for Shirdi in Maharashtra by air on a free pilgrimage under a scheme of the MP government, an official said.

This is the second batch of beneficiaries travelling by air under the Mukhyamantri Tirth-Darshan Yojana. The first batch of 32 senior citizens left for Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday from state capital Bhopal.

On Tuesday, the 32 senior citizens who travelled by air on government expense through a regular flight included people in the age group of 65 to 76 years from Agar-Malwa district.

MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan addressed the pilgrims before their departure through video conferencing and extended best wishes.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes that even a person wearing hawai-chappals (flip-flops) deserves to travel by hawai-jahaz (aeroplane). Earlier, we used to send elderly people from the state on pilgrimage by trains. Now, we are sending them by air to various places of pilgrimage,” Chouhan said.

The CM said the previous Congress government led by Kamal Nath had allegedly stopped the Mukhyamantri Tirth-Darshan Yojana, which has been restored by the present Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

Government officials claim Madhya Pradesh is the first state in the country to provide free air travel facility to senior citizens for pilgrimage under the scheme