After 4 yrs, Barara to host 3-day Dasehra event

Nitish Sharma

Ambala, August 9

After a gap of four years, the Shri Ramlila Club, Barara, is all set to host a three-day Dasehra festival here. However, citing space constraint and lack of time, the club has decided to install a 125-ft tall effigy of demon king Ravana this time.

The club is known for erecting the tallest (221-ft) effigy of demon king Ravana in the country. Also, earlier a five-day Barara festival used to be organised on Dasehra and it used to attract a huge crowd from neighbouring states as well. But due to space constraints, the festival was first shifted to Panchkula in 2018 and then to Chandigarh in 2019. Due to the Covid pandemic, there was no event in 2020 and last year, the club provided its services in erecting a 100-ft effigy in Barara.

The club members are also disappointed as they are not able to erect the crowd-pulling tallest effigy for the third consecutive year. The members rued that they requested the administration and even politicians, who visited here on previous occasions, about the situation but to no avail.

Talking to The Tribune, Tejinder Chauhan, club president, said: “There was a plan to erect a 220-ft tall effigy in Mohali this year and we had started working on its basic structure. But due to some issues related to prior permissions required for the event, the plan couldn’t materialise and the work was stopped. Even if we get the permission now, it is not possible to prepare such tall effigy as it is a time-consuming process.”

The club has been making the effigies of Ravana since 1987. Initially, it was 20-ft tall. Every year, the height of the effigy was raised and it touched 210 feet around eight years ago and remained the same till 2019.

“Due to space constraint, the festival was moved out of Ambala in 2018 and a 221-feet tall effigy was prepared in 2019. The effigy had made it to the Limca Book of World Records for its height,” he added.

Chauhan further said: “Now we have decided to erect a smaller (125-ft) effigy in Barara and hold a three-day event. After four years, we will be holding the festival here. Cultural programmes will also be organised. The work on preparing the effigy will start this weekend and it may cost around Rs 15 lakh.”

Meanwhile, Congress MLA from Mullana Varun Chaudhry said: “The club requires a dedicated ground for such a major event. We will make efforts to bring the tallest effigy back in Barara.”