E-Paper
Chandigarh to see another year of low-key Dussehra
Most Ramlila associations of Chandigarh will be putting up symbolic effigies of Ravana this Dussehra citing inability to restrict gathering to 300
With Covid situation gradually improving, many organising committees are holding Ramlila this year. However, citing strict restrictions in place, a few organisations are either refraining from or holding a low-key Dussehra celebration.
The Sector-46 Ramlila association has been using the mandi ground in Sector-46 for the celebrations every year. However, this year instead of holding any function, they will just put up a symbolic effigy of Ravana. General secretary of the association Sushil Kumar said, “We can’t restrict the total number of people to 300 here as per the administration’s instructions. Further, we were made to sign an undertaking to take responsibility in case of any breaches. Therefore, we won’t take any chance.”
Members of the Panjab university Ramlila committee also cited the same problem and said they would not burn the effigies on Dussehra this time. One of the organisers of the committee, Deepak Kaushik, said, “The administration should be more flexible with restrictions when it comes to such celebrations. When it comes to political protests in the city, Covid norms are flouted.”
Various Ramlila associations said due to the delay in getting permission for making effigies, now they were facing problems in finding artists. Ashok Choudhary, senior vice-president, Sector-20 Ramlila, said, “We’ve to pay artists more for designing effigies this year because of the delayed permission.”
Tejinder Chauhan, an effigy maker from Barara, who had made the city’s tallest (221 ft) Ravana in 2019, will not come to the city this time.
“It takes three to four months to design an effigy and the permission came late this time. I am making a small effigy in my hometown and hope to come to Chandigarh the next year after things improve,” he said.
One of the artists, Hader Ali of Kalka, said they had taken only ₹1,000 in advance, but still were making effigies for the sake of the festival.
The OCF Sanskritik Manch in Sector 29-C has not hired professional artists this time. Instead, four children from the locality have been making the effigies for them.
