Shravan Yatra was started in 2015 by Akhilesh Yadav's government, under which senior citizens could go on pilgrimage trips free of cost

The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has scrapped the Shravan Yatra, a scheme under which elderly citizens could go on pilgrimage trips free of cost.

The Shravan Yatra was started in 2015 under the previous Samajwadi Party government headed by Akhilesh Yadav.

Responding to a question raised in the State Assembly, U.P Minister for Religious Affairs, Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary, said the Shravan Yatra was being scrapped in "public interest”. "There is no plan to revive the scheme," he said.

Former CM Mr. Yadav had kickstarted the scheme under the name of "Samajwadi Shravan Yatra" in March 2015, as part of his outreach to counter allegations of Muslim appeasement by the BJP.

Under the scheme, the government bore the entire boarding and lodging expenses for pilgrimage trips undertaken by senior citizens.

The name of the yatra was inspired by the story of Shravan Kumar, who had carried his blind parents on his shoulders for a pilgrimage.

This year, a shadow was cast over the yatra after the trips scheduled for October, November and December were cancelled as the IRCTC, which organises the travel, did not receive the necessary funds from the Religious Affairs Ministry even though Rs 14 crore was allocated for it.

Also, while six trains were running under the scheme last year, under the new government the number had fallen to two.

Pilgrimage trips were scheduled for Somnath, Dwarka, Madurai, Puri and Konark this year.