PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Nainital
On the last day of the 124th Maa Nanda-Sunanda Mahotsav on Wednesday, Maa Nanda-Sunanda were given a heartfelt farewell with thousands of devotees thronging the Maa Naina Devi temple. The Dola Yatra started from the shrine at 12 noon and passed through Mallital Bazaar, Pant Park, Mall Road, Tallital Bazaar, Dharamshala, Naya Bazaar and Pichhari Bazaar before reaching Bada Bazaar and Cheena Baba temple. Thereafter, the palanquin-led procession returned to Naina Devi temple.
While the devotees moved forward dancing, singing and chanting along the route, Chholiya dance teams performed bhajans and folk dances. Apart from those of Nainital, a large number of devotees also arrived from the nearby cities like Haldwani, Ramnagar, Kashipur and Rudrapur.
While Ram Sevak Sabha volunteers controlled the events a cultural team that arrived from Saur Valley of Pithoragarh district performed Lakhia Bhoot with traditional costumes and folk tunes.
Police personnel were deployed in adequate numbers to control the crowd of devotees and manage the increased volume of traffic.
Among the dignitaries present were the SSP Manjunath TC, ADM Vivek Rai, SP (Crime) Jagdish Chandra and SDM Nawazish Khaliq. Besides, MLA Sarita Arya, president of Nainital Palika Saraswati Khetwal and Ram Sevak Sabha president Manoj Sah were present during the culminating ceremony of the festival.
