Indore gets soaked in colours on Rang Panchami as traditional procession draws huge crowd

Talking to PTI, Shekhar Giri, the coordinator of this procession, locally known as gair, said 20 female bouncers were deployed this year for the security of women as well as the foreigners that had specially arrived at Indore for the revelry.For the first time, the Indore Municipal Corporation IMC also took part in this age-old tradition as 10 vehicles of the civic body sprayed colours on the participants.

Thousands of people, many from abroad, took part in the famous procession taken out on account of Rang Panchami, the festival of colours, in Indore city of Madhya Pradesh on Sunday.

The tradition of taking out a procession on the day of Rang Panchami in Indore is nearly 300 years old which was started by the Holkars - a dynasty of Maratha Confederacy of India. The Holkars were generals under Peshwa Baji Rao I, and later became Maharajas of Indore as an independent member of the Maratha Empire until 1818.

During this procession that covered the distance of four km, the revellers danced and sprayed colours at each other. This year, the local authorities got the all monuments of archeological importance covered so that wet or dry colours do not affect them.

The procession started from Rajwada (palace), located in the heart of the city. After passing through Malharganj and Khajuri, Gopal Mandir, Sarafa, Narsingh Bazar and Itwariya areas, it ended at the point from where it had started. Talking to PTI, Shekhar Giri, the coordinator of this procession, locally known as 'gair', said 20 female bouncers were deployed this year for the security of women as well as the foreigners that had specially arrived at Indore for the revelry.

For the first time, the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) also took part in this age-old tradition as 10 vehicles of the civic body sprayed colours on the participants. A special police control room was set up at Rajwada, where about a dozen officers and their subordinates remained glued to the CCTV screens to ensure that no untoward incident or anti-social activity takes place.

A large number of police personnel were deployed for the procession. Also, about 100 police constables, including the women staff, were positioned along the entire route in plain clothes for keeping eyes on the people and maintaining law and order.

Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava told PTI, ''The biggest achievement of the IMC this year was that the its team cleaned the whole area within two hours, for which I personally congratulated them.'' ''Experts had also expressed concerns that the colours many damage the walls and roof of the monuments, such as the Rajwada and Krishnapura Chhatris. Hence, special arrangements were made to cover them so that they remain unaffected,'' he said.

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