Greater Noida’s City Park to host Holi event on March 16

Officials said that the Holi event is being organised on the lines of the famous ‘Braj Holi’ and will be celebrated with flowers

The City Park in Greater Noida will celebrate the festival of colours two days in advance on Wednesday (March 16). The two-hour long extravaganza will be organised by the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) and will have glimpses of Charkula and Gagri dance recitals of Mathura as well as performances by renowned Braj folk singer Dr Seema Morwal.

The event will be held from 5pm to 7pm at the City Park, also known as the Mihir Bhoj Park in Greater Noida, and there will be free entry. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

Officials said that the Holi event is being organised on the lines of the famous ‘Braj Holi’ and will be celebrated with flowers.

“The event will be held from 5pm to 7pm at the City Park, also known as the Mihir Bhoj Park in Greater Noida and there will be free entry,” a statement from the GNIDA said.

Narendra Bhooshan, the chief executive officer (CEO) of GNIDA added that the decision to hold the ‘Brij ka Mayur Nritya aur Phoolon ki Holi’ programme was taken after the authority was forced to cancel its annual foundation day event for two consecutive years (2021 and 2022) because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Before the onset of the pandemic, GNIDA used to organise a four-day long carnival to mark Greater Noida’s foundation day in the last week of January. “In lieu of the foundation day programme, the authority will be organising the cultural event on Holi,” said Bhooshan.

“In November 2021, we held a meeting with social and residential welfare groups of the city and their representatives urged us to hold cultural programmes. We had elaborate plans to hold the foundation day programme in January, but due to the rising Covid-19 cases, restrictions were imposed and we could not hold the event. Now that the pandemic is under control, we decided to host a cultural event on the occasion of Holi,” Bhooshan added.

Sector Beta 1 resident Harinder Bhati, who was also a part of the meeting held in November, informed that the CEO had assured the residents that cultural events will be ramped up across the city.

“The resident welfare associations (RWAs) urged the CEO to hold the cultural events as they help to keep the environment joyful and positive. We hope these kinds of festivals are organised on a regular basis in the future,” said Bhati.

Various cultural performances displaying the Rasiya of Braj and Rasleela of Radha Krishna will be performed at Wednesday’s event and preparations are already underway at the City Park.

Devender Tiger, president of the federation of RWAs, Greater Noida, said that the representatives will request residents to attend the event in large numbers.

“This is a great initiative and we have urged everybody to attend the event along with their friends and family members,” said Tiger.