Devotees throng Takht Sri Damdama Sahib

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Talwandi Sabo, April 14

The festival of Baisakhi was celebrated with fervour and gaiety with a large number of devotees thronging the Takht Sri Damdama Sahib here to offer prayers.

Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh and SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal also reached the Takht Damdama Sahib and paid obeisance. They were honoured by Takth Damdama Sahib Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh with a ‘siropa’.

While addressing the devotees, Giani Gurbachan Singh said the 10th Sikh guru Gobind Singh Ji founded the Khalsa Panth in 1699 on Baisakhi. He asked people to follow the preaching of the holy scripture. He also appealed them to shun drugs, keep unshorn hairs and stay away from social evils. 

Longwal said Baisakhi was celebrated across the world wherever Sikhs reside. He talked about the history of Takht Damdama Sahiba and urged devotes to lead their lives on the principals of Guru Granth Sahib.

Giani Harpreet Singh said to face various challenges in future, the Khalsa Panth needed to be united. He said everyone should work for the betterment of panth, leaving behind personal differences. 

Besides roadside toy-sellers, eating joints, langar (community kitchen), serpentine queues and a heavy rush of vehicles were seen amid the recitation of religious verses. 

Community kitchens were set up at numerous places on the roads leading to Talwandi Sabo. Other gurdwaras in the city were also decorated on the occasion and witnessed a huge rush of devotees.

The district administration and the police authorities had made elaborate security arrangements and made sure that devotees did not face any convenience.

Modern bus terminals for Bathinda, Mansa

Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, who is also MLA from Bathinda (Urban), announced new modern bus terminals for Bathinda and Mansa cities during the Basakhi conference in Talwandi Sabo on Saturday.

The new modern bus stand will come up on Bathinda Improvement Trust’s 17.50-acres land at Patel Nagar, where an AC bus was about to come. An amount of Rs 20 crore will be passed for the new bus stand and it will be arranged by selling 10 acres of the current bus stand. The work on it is expected to start in next few months.

As per the new bus stand’s design, a repair room, hall to keep 125 buses, washing plant and grease room will be constructed. 

The proposal to construct the AC bus stand has been hanging in fire since 2009. Even ahead of the Assembly elections, Union Cabinet Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal laid the foundation stone of the AC bus stand in 2016, but the work on it could not start due to a paucity of funds. Earlier, the design was also not approved by the Army authorities.

The shifting of the bus stand outside the city will provide relief to residents as at present, traffic snarls are reported daily due to heavy rush on the GT Road near the bus stand.