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Deepotsav: Five earthen lamps from every Uttar Pradesh village to light up Ayodhya
This year, chief minister Yogi Adityanath has announced that nine lakh (0.9 million) diyas (earthen lamps) would be lit on the occasion of Deepotsav in Ayodhya
Five earthen lamps from every village of Uttar Pradesh would help illuminate Ayodhya during the Deepotsav celebrations on the Diwali eve on November 3.
As such, the Deepotsav would start on November 1.
The respective district magistrates of all the 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh would be entrusted with the task of ensuring that the proposed five earthen lamps from each of the over 90,000 villages of the state reach Ayodhya well in time, said a senior state tourism department official.
This year, chief minister Yogi Adityanath has announced that nine lakh (0.9 million) diyas (earthen lamps) would be lit on the occasion in Ayodhya— one diya each for an estimated nine lakh beneficiaries of the PM’s and CM’s Awas Yojanas (housing schemes) in the urban areas of Uttar Pradesh.
To ensure that the target of lighting the minimum nine lakh diyas is not missed, officials are planning to light 12 lakh earthen lamps so that a new world record is set during Deepotsav, the last one before the 2022 assembly polls, the official added.
Since 2017, the Yogi Adityanath government has been holding the Deepotsav function in Ayodhya, beginning with 51,000 earthen lamps in the inaugural year to 4,10,000 diyas in 2019 and 6,06,569 earthen lamps in 2020 —setting newer Guinness World Records.
Deputy director (Tourism), Lucknow, Dinesh Kumar, who has additional charge of Prayagraj, said a decision to have each village of the state contribute five earthen lamps for the Deepotsav celebration has been taken at the state level recently at a meeting held in Lucknow.
“District magistrates would be appointed nodal officers for this initiative,” he explained.
Another senior official of the state tourism department confirmed the move and said that missives to all DMs would be issued any moment now.
Prayagraj district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Khatri said, “It is a welcome step which will allow all villages and districts of the state to be part of the celebrations at Ayodhya.”
The district tourism department officials, under the supervision of the district magistrates, would contact the elected gram pradhans and rural potters across the state to ensure that these over 4.5 lakh diyas (five from each of the over 90,000 villages of the state).
The villages include around 2800 of Prayagraj district, over 2000 of Pratapgarh district, over 800 of Kaushambi and over 1300 of Fatehpur district.
