NGOs celebrate the day with newborn girls

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 13

Breaking stereotypes, a few social organisations and families are celebrating Lohri for the girl child. Traditionally, the celebration has been reserved for male child only. After the birth of a male child, the Lohri is celebrated with great pomp and show, but several families have started celebrating the occasion for their daughters.

Sanjhi Chhhan Foundation, an NGO, along with members of Voice of Amritsar (VOA), another city-based NGO, distributed blankets, packets of peanuts, rewaris among the families of the newborn girls at the Bebe Nanki Mother and Child Care Centre at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital.The event was attended by Undleep Aujla, wife of MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla. She appreciated the move of the NGO authorities. Under the programme, female children delivered from Monday till Saturday have been provided with special Lohri kit.

Several families across the city dedicated the celebrations to their daughters. Shamsher Singh, a city resident, who recently welcomed a girl in his family, said, “There is no difference between a boy and a girl. The festival does not discriminate on the basis of the gender. It is a privilege that I am celebrating the Lohri for my daughter."

A jubilant father, Saruk Seth said, “It is a big festival. We have kept this as a warm family affair. We shall be doing a small get together. It is the first festival of my daughter and it had to be special.”