Mhow, Apr 14 (PTI) A large number of people and senior Madhya Pradesh leaders on Thursday paid tributes to Dr B R Ambedkar on his 131st birth anniversary at his birthplace in Mhow, where Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced to include the town as a destination in the list of the 'Teerth Darshan Yojna'.

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The Madhya Pradesh government has been running the Teerth Darshan scheme since some years to enable people and senior citizens to go on a pilgrimage free of cost at least once in their lifetime.

Ambedkar's followers from various parts of the country, especially Maharashtra's Vidharba region, arrived in Mhow on Thursday to pay their respects to the key architect of India's Constitution at his birthplace in Kali Paltan area of the town, where a grand memorial of Ambedkar has been built.

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Ambedkar was born on April 14, 1891 in Mhow town, which has been renamed as Dr Ambedkar Nagar in his memory.

Talking to reporters after paying respects at the memorial, Chouhan announced that the Madhya Pradesh government will soon add Ambedkar's birthplace as one of the destinations in the state's popular Teerth Darshan Yojna.

Chouhan also directed authorities to earmark land for constructing a dharamshala (building devoted to religious/charitable purposes) for people visiting Ambedkar's birthplace.

The main function at the memorial started on Wednesday midnight, during which members of the Samata Sainik Dal, a cadre-based organisation founded by Ambedkar, presented a guard of honour to their icon.

A large number of Buddhist monks also congregated at the place to pay their respects to Ambedkar by reciting 'Buddh Vandana'.

While Ambedkar's birth anniversary was celebrated in a low-key manner in the last couple of years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this time his followers took out two grand processions as a mark of respect to their icon.

Senior Congress leaders, including former chief ministers Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh, also reached Ambedkar's birthplace on the occasion.

Nath told reporters that his party will construct a grand statue of Ambedkar in the state capital Bhopal.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)