SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Jan 23: Brushing aside religious affiliation, members of Hindu and Muslim communities on Monday evening lighted up record 1.51 lakh Diyas at Rajendra Sarovar in the heart of Dhanbad to celebrate Ayodhya Temple Pran Pratistha.
The Diya light-up ceremony began at 5.30 pm and continued till 10.10 pm in which thousands of city denizens mostly girls and women lighted up their Diyas around the Rajendra Sarovar spread over 4.2 acres.
Dhanbad MP PN Singh, former mayor Chandrashekhar Agrawal, Jharkhand Olympic Association vice-president Zubair Alam, former councillor Gulam Khwaja Abbas, social activists Anand Chourasia, artist Arti Saw along with thousands of denizens of different age groups lighted up Diyas.
Main organizer Veena Agrawal said that besides lighting up Diya, thousands of devotees blew crunch (Sankhnad) together at the time of the inauguration and took the Prasad.
Zubair Alam on the occasion observed that in 68 years of Dhanbad, it was the first time that 1.51 lakh Diya were lit up at one place to celebrate.
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“It was a splendid picture. When 1.51 lakh Diyas were lit up it seemed Ayodya Pran- Pratistha (consecration) celebration was being done at Rajendra Sarovar”, said Sampa Sarkar who had gone from Hirapur along with a 25-member group to celebrate the light up ceremony.
Expecting a mass rush of people for participation in the light-up ceremony in the evening at Rajendra Sarovar, the organizer Veena Agrawal had allotted the area and Diya to devotees one day before so that the hustle-bustle situation does not appear.
“Despite fixed space, we had to wait till 6.10 pm to light up due to rush”, said Sarkar.
The centre of the attraction was the participation of Muslim community members. Not only sports persons and social leaders but general people were also seen participating.
Arti Saw, who had gone from JC Mallick Road in a group to light up Diya observed that she had been in Dhanbad for 15 years but never seen such spirit of lighting up even on the occasion of Diwali festival. “I think myself fortunate to see such a scene when 1.51 lakh Diyas were lit up. Credit goes to Veena Agrawal”, said Arti Saw.
Santosh Kumar, Kunal Singh, Manoj Yadav, Purohit Singh, Amit Prabhakar, Sanjiv Kumar, Ajay Kant Singh, Amit Gupta, Saroj Shukla, Premjit Kumar, Abhay Chandravanshi, Ravi Kumar Pandey, Naresh Kanchan and Riya Kumari conducted the programme.
