Thousands of devotees from across the country are likely to attend the ceremonial hoisting of the Jhanda Sahib flag at Sri Guru Ram Rai Darbar Sahib in Dehradun on Friday.
The SGRR spiritual head Mahant Devendra Das has directed the ceremonial installation of the new flag pole and hoisting of the flag which also marked the formal start of the Jhanda Mela.
The historical Jhanda installation ceremony is likely to be conducted at Guru Ram Rai Darbar Sahib in Dehradun. More than 200 devotees from other countries are also expected to be a part of Sangat (pilgrims). Mahant Devendra Dass delivered ‘Guru Manta’ to the ‘Sangat’ pilgrims of the east and also disseminated ‘Tabeez’, ‘Turban’ (Saropa) and ‘Elaichi’ and farewell to the ‘Sangat’ pilgrims of the east has also started.
Meanwhile, Mela administration claimed that the local police and the district administration carried out preparations of the security in order to avoid any kind of untoward incident during the Mela. City police claimed that sniffing dogs and anti-bomb squad has been stationed at the Mela site for smooth functioning of the Mela proceedings.
The Mela administration also claimed that a total of 22 CCTV cameras have been installed with an aim to keep tight surveillance during the Mela. The medical officers of Shri Mahant Indiresh Hospital are also deployed round the clock for ensuring that required medical and health care to devotees, who have started congregating for the Mela proceedings. Mela administration claimed that devotees from Canada, Italy, USA, UK and other countries are also likely to congregate for Mela celebrations. The ceremonies began early in the morning as scheduled and lasted till evening with devotees from across India and abroad participating with fervour.
It is also noteworthy that The devotees have booked the opportunity to donate the Darshini Gilaf (velvet cover of the flag pole) for the period till 2096.
This year, Narendra Singh from Mohali presented the Darshini Gilaf and the preparations for replacing the flag pole had been going on for the past couple of days. The popularity of the Jhanda Mela celebrations could be gazed by the fact that devotees from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Panjab, Himachal Pradesh and other neighbouring states have started congregating at Jhanda Sahib. Dozens of eating, fun and frolic, entertainment stalls have already placed at Jhanda Sahib and giant wheel, Columbus boat and other amusement rides have already started attracting the attention of the children in the Mela. Meanwhile, strict security measures were already taken place by the city police in order to have smooth functioning of Jhanda Sahib proceedings and fire tenders were also placed at the locations from where they could reach the spot instantly in case of any fire incident. The police and district administration also urged from the devotees to inform the help desk in case they found any unclaimed article or any suspicious activities during the Mela. It is also equally important to mention here is that Jhanda Fair is celebrated every year on fifth day after Holi for 15 days. Mela administration claimed that around four lakh devotees from across the country are likely to seek blessings by the end of this weekend and necessary arrangements have been done for them.