LUCKNOW TO WITNESS AYODHYA-LIKE DEEPOTSAV THIS DIWALI EVE
LUCKNOW : In a first, a grand Deepotsav will be organised on the bank of river Gomti in Lucknow on the eve of Diwali.
“The event to be held on the night of Choti Diwali will take place in the presence of chief minister Yogi Adityanath,” said Manoj Kumar Singh, additional chief secretary, rural development department, UP.
The Jhule Lal Vatika near Hanuman Setu will glow with 100,000 earthen and cow dung diyas with the joint efforts of Prerna Aajeevika Mission (the women component of the rural livelihood mission) and Gau Seva Ayog.
LUCKNOW: In a first, a grand Deepotsav will be organised on the bank of river Gomti in Lucknow on the eve of Diwali.
“The event to be held on the night of Choti Diwali will take place in the presence of chief minister Yogi Adityanath,” said Manoj Kumar Singh, additional chief secretary, rural development department, UP.
The Jhule Lal Vatika near Hanuman Setu will glow with 100,000 earthen and cow dung diyas with the joint efforts of Prerna Aajeevika Mission (the women component of the rural livelihood mission) and Gau Seva Ayog.
“This year the self-help groups (SHGs) supported by the Prerna Aajeevika Mission have taken up making of diyas and idols (Lakshmi-Ganesh) in a big way. These are made of cow dung mixed with clay and wood dust. More than 35 SHGs are making such diyas which are traditional and environmentfriendly and then repurposed and refused as manure. This will be the first Deepotsava in Lucknow on such a large scale and all the diyas that will be lit will be made by women SHGs.” said Singh.
The one lakh diyas that will be lit at Jhule Lal Vatika would be sourced from both Prerna women and Gau Seva Ayog but the arrangement and lighting of those at the Jhule Lal Vatika will be done by 1,000 Prerna rural women from villages in Lucknow district. Gau Seva Ayog, chairperson, Shyam Nandan Singh on November 2 wrote to the National Rural Livelihood Mission’s director, Sujit Kumar requesting 1000 women volunteers to arrange and organise the diya lighting at the event.
Singh said the Prerna Aajeevika Mission has opened up livelihood opportunities for over 5,000 women and adds to the sustained campaign of Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Abhiyaan by the government of Uttar Pradesh.
Meanwhile, Ayodhya will witness its fourth Chhoti Diwali Deepotsava around the same time and would look to break its own Guinness records. The government targets to light 600,000 thereby breaking its own previous Guinness record of 410,000 diyas that it lit last year.