THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, DELHI

n the case of Tirath Yatra Scheme, Hon'ble LG had only given certain suggestions and asked the Minister to discuss the proposal so that a considered decision could be taken.

In his suggestion, Hon'ble LG has advised that it would be equitable to have some income criteria to ascertain eligibility of beneficiaries as original proposal too envisaged govt. assistance to only those senior citizens of Delhi who do not have means to undertake pilgrimage on their own. It may be noted that the department had placed on record similar schemes in other states such as Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan where income tax payers have been excluded in addition to some other eligibility criteria.

Hon'ble LG has also sought clarification as to why a certificate from area MLA is necessary regarding residence of applicant when election voter card has already been mandatory to be eligible as a beneficiary. Honble LG has observed that our goal in any scheme should be to remove unnecessary steps.

Finally, Hon'ble LG has noted that there should be a transparent and fair system based on defined criteria to select the beneficiaries incase the no. of applicants exceeds the available slots.

With all the above suggestions, Hon'ble LG had returned the file to the Hon'ble Minister on 8th March, 2018 and invited him to discuss so that a considered decision could be taken in the benefit of people of Delhi.

However, no attempt has been made by the office of the Hon’ble minister to discuss the matter. It is reiterated that a reasonable income criteria has been advised on the same lines as other states and not BPL (as quoted by the Hon'ble Minister) so that scarce govt. funds are used for the benefit of the needy.