Baristha Nagarika Tirtha Yatra Yojana

The scheme offers a great opportunity to the poor and deprived senior citizens (60-75 years) of the State to the realization of their lifelong dream of having one Tirtha Darshan (Pilgrimage) and fulfill their spiritual aspirations, with the support of the state.

This scheme will be offered to people of all regions/faiths.

The scheme is envisaged to help senior citizens over 60-75 years of age to undertake pilgrimage with Government assistance.

Facilities for pilgrims:

The district administration will make arrangements for transportation of the selected pilgrims including their attendants to district HQ and further to the “Starting Point” i.e. originating railway station or directly from home to the starting point and also on the return journey from the “Starting Point “ back to their homes.

Arrangements for stay and food for the pilgrims coming from various districts on the day previous to the actual departure will be done by the district administration of the “Starting Point” i.e. originating station.

Vegetarian Meals, Breakfast, Tea & Snacks with Drinking Water throughout the journey, Road transport, Accommodation in nearby destinations, Tour escorts, tour guides, travel insurance, and medical facilities with professional physicians shall be provided by IRCTC.

The tentative food menu to be provided at the starting point by the Tourism Department as well as during the journey by IRCTC are as follows: Break Fast-8-9 AM- Upama & Dalma/ Puri & Veg. Mix. Curry/Idlee, Sambar, and Tea & Water, (b) Lunch- 12 Noon-2 PM- Veg.-Rice/Roti, Dal, one Curry, one Veg. Fry, Khata, Water, (c) Tea & Biscuits- 4-5 PM, (d) Dinner- 7-9 PM- Veg.-Rice/ Roti, Dal, Veg. Curry & Water.

The travel kit shall be provided by IRCTC to the pilgrims within a cost as per the MOU signed between the state Govt. & IRCTC for each year. The kit shall contain a toothbrush, toothpaste, coconut oil, shampoo, bathing & washing soap, bedsheet, blanket, cap, towel, hand napkin, comb, mirror, identity card & a bag. The bag shall be properly branded with the Odisha Tourism logo.

If pilgrims desire to avail of any facility other than that prescribed by the Government during the journey, then they will have to make payment for the same. Tourism Dept. / IRCTC cannot take responsibility for the extra services desired by the pilgrims.

The applicant must be over 60 years of age & within 75 years of age (except in cases of joint application of a married couple where one of the spouses can be less than 60 years of age). For the computation of age, the last date of submission of the application will be taken into account.

The applicant has to be a domicile of Odisha.

The applicant should have the requisite fitness to undertake the journey and should not be suffering from any communicable disease.

Under the scheme, an attendant can also accompany applicants above 70 years of age. The application of the attendant should be a joint application with the prospective 'Pilgrim'.

The attendant has to pay 50% of the travel cost in the shape of a Bank Draft drawn on scheduled banks in favour of the Director, Tourism payable at Bhubaneswar along with the application.

The attendant should be over 18 years of age.

A married couple can apply 'jointly' for the pilgrimage trip. Their joint application will be treated as one application, but, the facilities provided will be individual. The joint application will be held eligible even if one of the spouses is less than 60 years of age.

Under the scheme, the pilgrim can avail the benefit of a journey only once in a lifetime.

Since the scheme is meant for poor and deprived sections of society, the applicant should mandatorily possess any of the following:

Antyodaya/ Annapurna card,

Ration Card under NFSA

Widow Pension/ Old Age Pension

MGNREGS Job Card

The auto inclusion and the deprivation criteria used by the Panchayati Raj Department which has replaced the criteria for identification of BPL category people and weaker sections for different development schemes can be used to filter the eligible applicants for this scheme.

Any other similar documents issued by the State Govt. reflecting their weak economic status or deprivation.

Note: Applicant providing false information will be debarred of benefit under the scheme.

Responsibility of Pilgrims Selected for Yatra:

As far as possible the pilgrims should avoid wearing jewellery.

Pilgrims should give an undertaking that they have the requisite fitness to undertake the journey and they are not suffering from any communicable disease.

The pilgrim has to give an undertaking that he/she is taking the journey on his own will and at his/her own risk and that the state government will not be responsible for any unforeseen untoward incident, if any, during the entire duration of the pilgrimage up till the time they reach their homes.

The selected pilgrims should not deviate from the scheduled program journey and site visits under any circumstances.

The pilgrims should listen to the instructions of the IRCTC officials during the entire duration of the journey.

The pilgrims should maintain good behaviour among themselves and with IRCTC officials

Offline

Online

Application Process:

Step 01: Applications shall be invited by the Tourism Department, Odisha by giving wide publication both in electronic and print media.

Step 02: District Collectors shall publish copies of the advertisement in different district offices, blocks, Tehsils, and Gram Panchayat Offices for wide publicity.

Step 03: The application forms shall be made available at the District Collectorate/ Block, Tahasil, Gram Panchayat Office, and District Tourist Offices and also will be available online at www.odishatourism.gov.in

Step 04: A senior citizen desirous to avail the benefit of the scheme should fill up the application in the prescribed proforma (Form - Odia or English) (Annexure-I & II) and submit the same at O/O the Dist. Collector/ Tourist Officer of his/her respective district or any other authority designated by the Collector for this purpose, before the prescribed time-limit.

Step 05: Application complete in all respects shall be forwarded/ submitted to the concerned Collectorate/ Dist. Tourist Officer or any other authority designated by the Collector within the prescribed time limit fixed by the Tourism Dept. from time to time.

Note 01: Documents relating to proof of identity, address, and undertaking regarding medical fitness, and documents in support of eligibility should be affixed to the application. Submission of documentary proof in support of identity, age, and address shall be as per norms of Govt. of India/ Govt. of Odisha.

Note 02: The Applicants should duly fill out the application form furnishing their emergency contact details (Name & Address, Telephone, Mobile, email ID, etc. of his relative for contact in case of emergency), Blood Group, 2 nos. of Photographs (Passport size) along with the application.

Note 03: Joint applications for couples and with attendants should be filled according to the proforma.

Note 04: The incomplete application or application received after the specified deadline and without required information/ documents/ Bank draft, if any, shall be summarily rejected.

Selection Procedure:

Step 01: The applications received by different offices should be sent to the District Tourist Office for allotment of district-wise code and registration numbers for selection by the district-level committee.

Step 02: Every application should be given a District-wise code prescribed by the Tourism Department & registration number at the time of receipt at the District Tourist Office level. In cases of joint applications of a married couple or of a senior citizen above 70 years along with an attendant, the application will be given one registration number.

Step 03: All the duly filled applications received by the different offices of the District Administration shall be scrutinized by the 'Cell' formed for this purpose. The scanned copies (soft copies) of the valid/eligible applications with attachments shall be forwarded to the office of the Collectors through the District Tourist Officer.

Step 04: If there are more number of Applicants than the district-wise quota allotted for each district, The Dist. Level Selection Committee will make the selection of the pilgrims through a transparent lottery system such as drawl of lots or electronically through a Random Number Generator System or any transparent method as may be decided by the Selection Committee as per the District-wise Quota fixed by the Department of Tourism.

Step 05: The Dist. Level Selection Committee should also select 20% extra applicants as wait-listed to accommodate for the shortfall if any. The district-wise quota of the pilgrims fixed for each district should be, as far as possible, equitably distributed by the district Collector among the Blocks/ULBs of the district based on the population of the blocks and municipal areas. The Collector can adjust the quota within the blocks and ULBs, taking into account local factors, if any.

Step 06: The selected list of pilgrims of the District should be widely published in the District Headquarters, Tourist Office, and Block Offices for information of the general public.

Step 07: In case of shortfall even after adjustment of waitlisted candidates, the balance pilgrims are to be selected from the district of “Starting Point” i.e. originating station or by any other method as directed by the Department of Tourism.

Step 08: A soft copy of the list of such selected applicants & waitlisted applicants shall also be sent to the DoT well in advance before the commencement of the train journey.

Step 09: The District Collectors shall be provided with a contingency fund to meet the expenditure on scanning of the document, travel expenses, stationeries, office assistance, any other related expenses, etc.

Step 10: An Applicant, who has been selected for the journey and later decided not to perform the journey due to some unavoidable circumstances, should have informed the Concerned Dist. Collector/ Tourist Officer/ Tourism Dept. at least 7 days before the date of commencement of the journey. In such case, the Applicant can be considered to avail the benefit in the next journey. In the case where the Applicant has not intimated the fact for cancellation of his journey before 7 days to the Dist. Collector/ Tourist Officer/ Tourism Dept., he will be debarred for subsequent journey and journey cost, if any deposited for the purpose shall be forfeited.

1. Passport-size photograph
2. Identity Card i.e. Aadhaar card
3. Proof of age
4. Residence Proof
5. The applicant should mandatorily possess any of the following:

i. Antyodaya/ Annapurna card,

ii. Ration Card under NFSA

iii. Widow Pension/ Old Age Pension

iv. MGNREGS Job Card

v. The auto inclusion and the deprivation criteria used by the Panchayati Raj Department which has replaced the criteria for identification of BPL category people and weaker sections for different development schemes can be used to filter the eligible applicants for this scheme.

vi. Any other similar documents issued by the State Govt. reflecting their weak economic status or deprivation.