Kartik mela to be held at Jhulelal Park from Nov 4

LUCKNOW:: The city’s traditional 40-day fair, Kartik Mela (Katki Mela in local parlance) will be organised at Jhulelal Park from December 4 onwards.

This is the second time when the more than 400-year-old fair is not being held at the traditional venue Daliganj.

District magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said the shops owners had been told to get their shops registered with the Nagar Nigam and set them up by Monday. “No shops would be allowed after Tuesday,” he said.

In 2016, the fair failed to take off following the ongoing Gomti Riverfront work.

In 2017, the district administration changed the traditional venue of Daliganj to Mankameshwar Upwan Ghat, citing traffic snarls and Gomti Riverfront development work as the reason.

However, this year too, the administration has decided to shift the fair to Jhulelal park on the banks of the Gomti.

Bharat Bhushan, secretary, Kartik Mela Samiti, said frequent change in the venue added to the woes of the traders.

City-based historian Yogesh Praveen said the fair was more than 500 year old and was one of the three oldest fairs organised since Akbar’s times.

“In those days, devotees did brisk shopping after taking a holy dip in river Gomti on the occasion of Kartik Poornima. Such fairs were preferred destinations, with both Hindus and Muslims participating,” said Praveen.

Issue of space allocation to the fair that was organised from Daliganj bridge to Baansmandi, initially began in 2015, when the organising committee was denied permission to organise the mela, citing the Gomtif Riverfront development work being carried out by the irrigation department.

› In those days, devotees did brisk shopping after taking a holy dip in river Gomti on Kartik Poornima. Such fairs were preferred destinations, with both Hindus and Muslims participating,” YOGESH PRAVEEN, historian