Treks and travels: Subsidy for Manasa Sarovar yatra

Though central Government facilitates Manasa Sarovar yatra each year, it not bears any cost of the trip. And Government has no role in private trips originating from Nepal. In recent years, few state Governments have started providing assistance in terms of money for Manasa Sarovar pilgrims. And Karnataka is one such state. A sum of Rs 30,000/- is given to each person who goes to Manasa Sarovar. This is irrespective of whether he goes by Government or private route. The two conditions being that the person must reside in Karnataka and has not claimed this subsidy before.

The intension of this post is to provide information on how to obtain subsidy for Kailash Manasa Sarovar trip. I knew about the subsidy before the trip but could not get much information about the process to claim the same. It took some effort on my side to get information and claim subsidy. This was with the help of fellow travelers who had prior information from previous group.

The subsidy can be claimed after you complete the trip. The application is given at Muzrai Office in Kalasipalyam (Near to Tippu Sultan's Palace). The address is:

The Commissioner of Religious and charitable endowments,

Mahadeshwara vartha bhavan,

Alur Venkatarao Road,

Chamarajmet, Bengaluru – 560018

Along with application, the following documents needs to be submitted:

You can take a copy of filled application form and get a seal which is treated as acknowledgement Note that the application must be submitted within two months of completing the journey.

For me the issue was the CIPSC document. Never knew that such a document exists before submitting the form. I then contacted the travel agent in Nepal. They did not understand anything!! So, I got a copy of CIPSC document from Endowment Office and emailed a scanned copy of it. That document was not issued by travel agent but by Tibetan guides. I then had to contact our guides in Tibet and get the document. The travel agent and the guides were very helpful in this regard. By the way, this document is completely in Chinese!!

Ideally, you should get intimation from them to collect DD!! But that does not happen and you might have to call them to check the status. I think they collect all application forms and then process it. Considering the last batch of pilgrims travel during September/October and another two months time for submission, it will be January by the time the applications are processed.

Once the application is processed, one needs to visit the Office in person and show Original passport, ID card indicating that you reside in Karnataka (Ration card/Voter ID/Driver’s license). Also, an affidavit stating that the person has not claimed subsidy before has to be provided on a twenty rupees stamp paper (the content is provided by Muzrai Office). And then the Demand Draft will be handed over.

I did five trips to Muzrai Office:

1. To collect Application form

2. To submit the form but realized the missing CIPSC document.

4. Came to know about that the application was processed. But it was late by the time I got the stamp paper and put the writing into it!!

It will not be good on my part if I do not appreciate the way the staff behaved in this process. Unlike other Government Offices, the transactions were smooth and hassle free. The concerned people in the Office behaved in a professional manner. No one asked for bribe or even made indirect reference to it. (Not even “Give something for Coffee/Tea” kind of stuff from helpers). More than the money I got, I was happy at the way the whole transaction was handled.