Lucknow, March 25: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has doubled the subsidy for Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh to Rs 1 lakh per person.

Announcing the "good news" before a cheering crowd in Gorakhpur, he added: "We'll also build a Kailash-Mansarovar Bhavan in Lucknow or Ghaziabad or Noida, so that all such pilgrims can start their journey from there."

Adityanath was visiting his hometown, where he is mahant of the Gorakhnath Math, for the first time since taking over as chief minister last Sunday.

In 2013, the then Akhilesh Yadav government had introduced a Rs 50,000 subsidy for pilgrims travelling to Mansarovar Lake (15,060ft) and the Kailash mountain (19,500ft) in China's Tibet region.

Some BJP-ruled states, such as Gujarat, provide a subsidy of Rs 25,000. The subsidy is a reimbursement paid to the pilgrims after they return.

Usually, about 16 batches of 60 pilgrims each travel to Kailash-Mansarovar from India in May-June every year. Some 25 to 35 of them are from Uttar Pradesh.

Till 2013, a pilgrim from Uttar Pradesh had to bear the entire cost of the journey - which then came to about Rs 1.25 lakh per person - apart from depositing about Rs 10,000 with the state government's charity department for a medical examination and insurance.

Adityanath told his audience today that buffalo slaughterhouses that have valid licences and follow all the specifications, such as those on effluents, would not be closed.

He cited the National Green Tribunal's orders rather than the BJP's poll manifesto, which had promised a ban on all buffalo slaughterhouses, legal or illegal (cow slaughter is already banned in the state).

"The National Green Tribunal has many times in the past two years directed the closure of illegal slaughterhouses. Those who have licences and are not violating the specifications wouldn't be disturbed," he said.

Abbatoir owners, however, allege that district authorities forced shut virtually all buffalo slaughterhouses in the state, legal and illegal, last weekend as soon as Adityanath was nominated for the top job.

The lack of buffalo meat supplies has already forced leading Lucknow eateries like Tunday Kababi and Raheem to switch to chicken and goat meat, taking heavy losses.

S. Sabbarwal, general secretary of the All India Buffalo Meat Export Association, said here two days ago that the government was targeting all meat sellers, including goat meat sellers.

"We have no problem if illegal slaughterhouses are closed but the government is terrorising meat sellers and those who have licensed slaughterhouses too. We are facing losses of several crores," he said.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal are said to be pressuring district authorities to close all abattoirs, even those that slaughter goats.

Over a dozen people led by the VHP's Faizabad president Ram Lal Jaiswal and local Bajrang Dal convener Mahesh Sharma handed a list of half-a-dozen slaughterhouses in Ayodhya-Faizabad to the local administration yesterday and demanded action against their owners within 48 hours.

"We won't allow any (goat or buffalo) slaughterhouse within 45km of Ayodhya-Faizabad," Jaiswal announced, threatening his organisation would "take up the job" if the administration did not.

Similar reports have come from Meerut and Saharanpur. According to a police report, 43 people have been arrested for either running illegal buffalo abattoirs or not following the specifications. Another 60 have been booked and at least 27 cases registered.

Adityanath said his government would work for all the 22 crore people in the state and never engage in the politics of caste or religion.

On his way from Gorakhpur airport to the rally venue, the chief minister got off his car several times to walk with the crowds, chanting " Vande Mataram" with them.