Residents throng gurdwaras, partake of langar on roadside

As many as 13 newborns rang in the New Year at the Civil Hospital, Phase 6, Mohali, today. Six girls and seven boys brought cheer to the maternity wards of the hospital as overjoyed families tended to their newborns and their mothers in bone-chilling January cold.

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Senior Medical officer HS Cheema said, “All babies are doing fine and the nursing staff is taking good care of everyone here. Naturally, parents are overjoyed. A very auspicious beginning of the New Year for them. It’s a double joy on the first day of the year.”

Attendants said after the New Year, they were waiting to celebrate Lohri at their homes. Despite overcast sky and biting cold conditions, all gurdwaras, temples and other shrines witnessed heavy rush since early morning today.

Mohali residents made it a point to bow to the God as the first thing on their things to-do list. Amb Sahib gurdwara, Sohana gurdwara, Satya Narayan Temple, Mataur, and Shri Laxmi Narayan Mandir, Phase 3B2, saw long queues of devotees waiting patiently for their turn to seek blessings of the Almighty in the early morning hours today.

Throughout the day, philanthropists organised roadside langars by offering hot tea and snacks to keep commuters warm and cosy. In the evening, shopping malls of the city witnessed good footfall of visitors soaked in the festive and holiday fervour.

Meanwhile, local politicians remained in the thick of things as they rushed from one function to another to mark their attendance. Mohali MLA Kulwant Singh and former health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu made it a point to socialise at dozen of functions today. Guru Nanak Market Welfare Committee, Phase 1, organised a Sukhmani Sahib Path for the wellbeing of the people. Mahadev Welfare Club, Phase 5, organised a langar at PCL Chowk, Phase 5.

Social activists ushered in the New Year by planting neem and mango trees in parks and by providing fodder at gaushalas. At the Kharar Municipal Council, employees held an Akhand Path during which hundreds of devotees paid obeisance.