To usher in new year, devotees make beeline for Golden Temple

Amritsar, January 1

A large number of devotees from India and abroad, including politicians, paid obeisance at the Golden Temple to offer prayers on the New Year.

Extra arrangements

• The SGPC had made extra arrangements to accommodate the influx of devotees
• The Amritsar police were on their toes to maintain law and order

There was a huge rush of visitors between 10 pm and 1 am last night. As the clocks struck 12 at midnight, the premises of the shrine echoed with the cheers of ‘Bole So Nihal’.

Braving the chill amidst dense fog, the devotees could be seen queued up to offer prayers at the sanctum sanctorum and took holy dip in the pool of nectar from early hours.

SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal along with his wife, former union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, former minister and SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia with his wife, MLA Ganieve Kaur Majithia, and their kids too visited the shrine.

Meanwhile, the SGPC had made extra arrangements to accommodate the large influx of devotees and additionally, the Amritsar police were on toes to maintain law and order.