While Shobhayatra at Shri Poddareshwar Ram Mandir stands cancelled, the event West Nagpur to be a low key affair
Nagpur: For the consecutive three years, Nagpurians would miss the grand Shobhayatras taken out in the city to mark Ram Navami. This year, Ram Navami falls on Sunday, April 10.
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Even though the State Government has allowed public gatherings and revoked all Covid restrictions, the Ram Navami shobhayatras, one of Nagpur’s unique identities, will largely be missed this year too. Till 2019, the Shobhayatras were the attraction of Nagpur for 53 years on the trot. In 2020 and 2021, the event was cancelled due to the pandemic.
While the older and bigger Shobhayatra of Shri Poddareshwar Ram Mandir stands cancelled this year, the colourful procession in West Nagpur will be a low-key affair with only six floats. According to reports, the Pashchim Nagpur Nagarik Sangh will take out shobhayatra this year. The South Central Zone Cultural Center (SCZCC) is preparing this year’s lead float which will be a replica of the proposed Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, said President of the group Ravi Waghmare. Apart from SCZCC, five big business houses in the city have sponsored five other floats in the shobhayatra. Instead of five to six band parties, only two — ‘Suyog Band’ and ‘Babulgaon Sandhal’ — will participate in West Nagpur’s Shobhayatra.
On the other hand, Shri Poddareshwar Ram Mandir, which will be celebrating its centenary year and completing 100 years on Ram Navmi in 2023, has decided to cancel the Shobhayatra this year too.
According to Ramkrishna Poddar, Managing Trustee of the temple, preparations for the Shobhayatra start at least two months in advance. This year, we could not start preparations at the right time due to Covid restrictions. So, we decided not to take out procession this year too, he said. All religious events are under way at the temple in a traditional manner. He also informed that the trust is planning grand celebrations of the 100th year of the temple and the coming year will be a memorable one.
