By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 31 Aug: A two-day traditional “Jagda” festival started with worship in the presence of thousands of devotees at Mahasu Devta Temple in Hanol (Jaunsar-Bawar region of district Dehradun). The State’s Tourism, Endowment and Culture Minister Satpal Maharaj also offered prayers on this occasion at the Mahasu Temple. It may be recalled that it was Maharaj, who as Tourism Minister, accorded the status of a state Mela to the Jagda fair of Hanol.
The two-day traditional “Jagda” festival was launched yesterday with worship in the presence of thousands of devotees in the Mahasu Devta Temple. Thousands of devotees from Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand participated in the fair and offered worship at the temple. Maharaj also reached Hanol Temple and prayed for the prosperity of the state.
Jagda Mahotsav has been recently declared as the biggest fair in the region. While the district administration, police and temple committee have made better arrangements for the event this year, Culture Minister Maharaj also arranged a Langar on his own behalf for about 20,000 devotees coming to the fair. The temple was thronged by devotees who were seen standing in long queues outside the temple waiting for their turn on both the days.
The roads of Hanol were also illuminated with colourful lights up to a distance of 2 kilometres during the Jagda festival. This time, the dance and songs of the temple premises were shown live by installing LCD screens in the pandal of the temple council.
Maharaj disclosed that arrangements for food had been made by the Manav Utthan Samiti this year. This time very good arrangements had been made by the temple committee. Along with this, a team of the Health Department was present in Hanol to deal with any possible medical emergency.
Mela Officer, SDM Saurav Aswal stated that better security arrangements had been made for the fair this year in anticipation of a large number of devotees coming to the fair. Purola MLA Durgeshwar Lal, Tribal Commission Chairman Murat Ram Sharma, CO, Vikasnagar, Sandeep Negi, Police Station In-charge Ashish Ravian, Secretary Mohan Lal Semwal, Tehsildar Chaman Singh were among those present.
