Hinglaj Devi Temple and Nankana Sahib Yatra Scheme (Pakistan), Madhya Pradesh

What is the Hinglaj Devi Temple and Nankana Sahib Yatra Scheme?

Hinglaj Devi Temple and Nankana Sahib Yatra Scheme is one of five pilgrimage schemes listed by the Department of Religious Trusts and Endowments of Madhya Pradesh. The department states its object in a single line on its own portal: to provide financial assistance to pilgrims of the state travelling to the Hinglaj Devi temple and Nankana Sahib pilgrimage sites located in Pakistan.

The scheme sits alongside four siblings on the same departmental page: Mukhyamantri Tirth Darshan Yojana, the Ladakh-based Sindhu Darshan Yojana, the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra scheme, and the Sri Lanka Sita temple yatra scheme. Madhya Pradesh was the first state in India to build a pilgrimage programme of this kind, starting with Mukhyamantri Tirth Darshan Yojana in 2012, and the foreign-destination schemes were added as separate reimbursement schemes because international travel cannot be organised the way a special pilgrim train can.

The two shrines the scheme covers are:

• Hinglaj Mata temple, a Shakti Peetha in the Hingol National Park area of Lasbela district in Balochistan. It is revered by Hindus as one of the 51 Shakti Peethas and is also venerated locally as "Nani Mandir" or "Nani Pir". Madhya Pradesh also has a 500-year-old subsidiary shrine of Hinglaj Mata at Badi Nagar in Raisen district, which is a separate place of worship and not covered by this scheme.
• Gurdwara Janam Asthan, Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak Dev, about 75 kilometres west of Lahore in Pakistan's Punjab province. It is one of the most important sites in Sikhism.

Unlike Mukhyamantri Tirth Darshan Yojana, this scheme is a reimbursement scheme, not an organised trip. The pilgrim travels first, keeps the evidence of expense, and then claims a share of the money back from the District Collector.

Who is eligible for the Hinglaj Devi and Nankana Sahib yatra assistance?

You qualify if all of the following hold:

• You are a resident of Madhya Pradesh with a domicile document, Samagra ID or equivalent record in your name.
• You are not an income-tax payer.
• You hold a valid Indian passport and obtained a Pakistan visa for the pilgrimage.
• You actually completed the journey to Hinglaj Devi temple, Nankana Sahib, or both, and can produce tickets, bills and passport stamps to prove it.
• You file the claim in the prescribed form with your District Collector, within the time allowed by the scheme order.

You are not eligible in these situations:

• You are domiciled outside Madhya Pradesh. Other states run their own pilgrimage assistance schemes for their own residents; this one is confined to Madhya Pradesh.
• You are an income-tax payer.
• You did not travel; planning or booking a trip that was cancelled creates no claim, because there is no completed journey to reimburse.
• You cannot produce passport, visa and expense evidence, in which case the collectorate has nothing to verify.
• You are claiming for a different Pakistan shrine not named in the scheme, or for the Hinglaj Mata shrine at Badi Nagar in Raisen district, which is inside Madhya Pradesh and not part of this scheme.

What documents are required?

Photocopy every page you submit. Passports are returned, but tickets and receipts usually stay in the collectorate file.

How to apply for the Hinglaj Devi and Nankana Sahib yatra scheme

1. Read the scheme order first. Open the scheme page on dharmasva.mp.gov.in and download the PDF under "Dekhe aur download kare". The order carries the current ceiling on reimbursement and the exact claim window, both of which the department revises from time to time; verify them before you travel, not after.
2. Arrange the journey and the travel documents. Obtain your Indian passport and Pakistan pilgrim visa. Travel to Nankana Sahib is normally organised through jathas under the India-Pakistan Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines, so coordinate with the recognised jatha organisers for the year.
3. Travel, and keep every bill. Retain air or rail tickets, boarding passes, the Attari-Wagah crossing record where applicable, and lodging receipts. The reimbursement is computed on the verified expense.
4. Fill the prescribed claim form available at the District Collector's office, entering the dates of travel, the total expense claimed and your bank account number with IFSC.
5. Submit the claim to the District Collector with the domicile proof, passport, visa page, Aadhaar, original bills, non-income-tax-payer declaration and bank passbook copy — within the period the scheme order allows.
6. Take an acknowledgement carrying an inward or diary number, and quote it in every follow-up.
7. Wait for verification and sanction. The collectorate confirms domicile and travel, computes the admissible amount against the ceiling in the scheme order, sanctions it and credits your bank account.

There is no online claim route. The claim is a paper file at the district level.

How much money does the scheme pay?

The scheme pays part of the travel expense, not the whole of it, and the ceiling is fixed in the departmental scheme order published on dharmasva.mp.gov.in. Madhya Pradesh's foreign-pilgrimage assistance schemes are built on a share-of-expense model with a rupee cap. The same structure the department uses for its Ladakh scheme, where the reimbursement is 50 per cent of the expense capped at Rs 10,000 per pilgrim.

Because the cap on this particular scheme has been revised at different times and the current scheme order is published only as a scanned PDF, confirm the exact figure from that PDF or from your District Collector's office before you budget for the trip. Do not rely on figures quoted by private websites; the number that binds is the one in the departmental order.

What is consistent across the scheme is the shape of the benefit: it is a one-time, post-travel, part reimbursement paid directly into the pilgrim's own bank account, and it is not a travel grant paid in advance.

How do I check the status of my claim?

1. Visit the section of your District Collector's office that handles Dharmasva schemes and quote your acknowledgement number.
2. Ask whether the file is at verification, sanction or payment stage.
3. Once sanctioned, check your bank statement for the credit.
4. If the file has not moved for a long period, lodge a grievance on the Madhya Pradesh CM Helpline by dialling 181, quoting the acknowledgement number.

Why do claims under this scheme fail?

• The journey never took place, or the passport carries no Pakistan entry stamp.
• The claim was filed late, outside the period allowed by the scheme order.
• The applicant is not domiciled in Madhya Pradesh.
• Income-tax payer status surfaces at verification.
• Photocopied instead of original tickets and bills.
• Name mismatch between passport, Aadhaar, domicile record and bank account.
• Visa or jatha permission was refused in that year, so the pilgrimage did not happen at all, a common practical obstacle, because cross-border pilgrim travel depends on bilateral clearances the state government does not control.

Who do I contact about this scheme?

According to the department's contact page:

• Department of Religious Trusts and Endowments, Mantralaya: 74 D, Vallabh Bhavan, Bhopal 462008. Phone 0755-2512091, email dharmasva.mantralaya@gmail.com.
• Directorate of Religious Trusts and Endowments: Simhastha Mela Office, Kothi Road, Ujjain. Phone 0734-2991135, email dndvmp@gmail.com.
• Madhya Pradesh Tirtha Sthan evam Mela Pradhikaran: E-15, 45 Bungalows, Bhopal 462003. Phone 0755-2575536.
• CM Helpline: dial 181 anywhere in Madhya Pradesh.

Filing the claim is free of charge. No agent can put your name on a jatha list or speed up a collectorate file for a fee, and the department appoints no private intermediaries for either step.