Despite the incessant rain throughout the day on Thursday in Mandi and surrounding areas, the spirit of enthusiastic devotees carrying deities on their shoulders was worth watching as a large number of crowds thronged to witness the traditional jaleb (shobha yatra) on the opening day of the weeklong famous Mandi (Chhoti Kashi) Shivratri festival.
Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, chief guest of the function, after paying obeisance at the Madho Rai temple, participated in the jaleb holding an umbrella, along with hundreds of deities carried by devotees, rain-drenched dancing participants, marching contingents of police, home guards, and other dignitaries.
The CM also inaugurated exhibitions put at Paddal ground to formally commence the festival.
Addressing the gathering at Paddal ground, the chief minister extended Shivratri greetings to people and announced a 5 percent hike in Nazrana to the deities and allocation of Rs 100 crores for completion of the Shiv Dham project in Mandi.
He said, “Despite facing a severe financial crisis, the state government has succeeded in ‘Vyavastha Parivartan, “ and in the coming year, 25,000 government jobs will be given to youths. Over the past two years, the government has made radical decisions in the fields of education, healthcare and in implementing public welfare schemes.”
The CM also castigated the former CM, Jai Ram Thakur, for making personal remarks against him: “I recently visited Prayagraj for Maha Kumbh, but the former CM didn’t spare him during his pilgrimage,” he added.
CM also launched the Divyam app on the occasion and also narrated various development schemes of the state government.
MLAs Sunder Thakur, Anil Sharma, Chander Shekhar, and Suresh Kumar; former ministers Thakur Kaul Singh and Prakash Choudhary; former CPS Sohan Lal Thakur; Congress leader Jagdish Reddy; and DC Mandi Apoorv Devgan, among others, were present on the occasion.
