Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has consented to inaugurate world’s tallest flag at Pahari Mandir in Ranchi to mark the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on January 23. The flag measuring 99 by 66 feet will be hoisted at a height of 293 feet atop Pahari Mandir. Chief Minister Raghubar Das while meeting Parrikar on Sunday personally in Delhi invited him to Ranchi to mark the occasion.
Informing about the development the Chief Minister said reporters in Delhi that the Union Minister has agreed to the proposal. “I requested him to grace the occasion on the birth anniversary of Netaji and he happily accepted it. It is a matter of pride for us,” said Das.
later addressing a Press conference Rancih DC Manoj Kumar said, “That apart, cultural programmes will be organised at the occasion probably at football stadium at Morhabadi in Ranchi, also to be attended by children from various schools in the city.” The flag will be unfurled by Defence Minister through a remote enabled device.
About 120 men worked for over 40 days in two shifts to erect the flag post. Entire project cost was estimated to be about Rs 1.25 crore. It has been built with the funds made available by Ranchi Pahari Mandir Vikas Samiti.
The flag will be unfurled at a height of 293 feet from the ground which is 99 feet long and 66 feet wide. The height of the flag post located at the hill top is 81 meters ((265.74 feet).
The flag, located on the tip of the hill, will be visible from every nook and corner of the state capital. The flagpoles have been supplied by a Pune-based structural engineering company -- ‘Wall Mount’.
Remarkably, Pahari Mandir once known as Pahari Tongri, meaning hill without a green cover located at the heart of the city is the only religious place in the Country where flag is being hoisted on the occasion of Independence and Republic day regularly since independence.
It was also among some of the first places in the Country where the tricolor was unfurled in the midnight of August 14, 1947. Hundreds of people of Ranchi coming from all caste and creed gathered at the hill atop and unfurled the tricolor to honor the martyrs who were hanged by the British.
“Earlier British used to hang the freedom fighters on the two trees of banyan and neem present at the top of the hill at that time. When the country won freedom, the residents of Ranchi, decided to pay respect to those martyrs by hoisting the tricolor on the hill,” said a priest of Pahari Temple Sant Kabir Das. The flag at that time was made of handmade khadi fabric colored with natural colors in the presence of traditional mandar and kurhi (drums).
The tradition still continues and flag is being hoisted since 1947 as a mark of respect towards those heroes who sacrificed their lives in the freedom struggle. This is perhaps a unique gesture found at a temple, which is rare and special. So much so, that a question was asked in several competitive examinations regarding its freedom struggle connections.
A foundation stone put on one of the walls of the main temple building still exist saying that the tricolor was unfurled here on the midnight of August 14, 1947.