Bhubaneswar, Sep 10: In the initiative under the Senior Citizen Pilgrimage Scheme, a special train carrying 775 elderly pilgrims departed from Bhubaneswar Railway Station on Wednesday, bound for Ayodhya and Varanasi.

The journey marks the first of 10 planned pilgrim trains for the current financial year 2025-26, aiming to connect senior citizens with sacred destinations across India.

The ceremonial flag-off was conducted by Odisha’s Deputy Chief Ministers KV Singh Deo and Pravati Parida, who expressed pride in the state’s commitment to honouring its elderly population.

The train includes pilgrims from various districts: 108 from Dhenkanal, 85 from Jagatsinghpur, 127 from Puri, 89 from Kendrapada, 197 from Cuttack, and 179 from Khordha. Accompanying them are 25 trained escort guides to ensure safety and support throughout the five-day journey.

The pilgrimage begins at the revered Lingaraj Temple and will culminate at the iconic Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi. With over 37,500 citizens already benefitting from the scheme, the Odisha government plans to facilitate spiritual travel for 8,000 more pilgrims in 10 phases.

Meanwhile, addressing concerns about the Subhadra Yojana, Deputy CM Pravati Parida acknowledged that many eligible women have been excluded due to documentation issues such as missing ration cards or incomplete KYC updates.

A review meeting has been called with officials from all departments to resolve these discrepancies. She assured that those who previously received Subhadra funds but missed recent installments will be compensated with two pending tranches.