Huge crowd slows down tazia procession at Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad, Jan 30 (UNI) A huge crowd today gathered to be part of the tazia procession here and in the bargain only 55 tazias could manage to reach the Electricity House.

The procession which began in the afternoon amid tight police bandobast is still winding it's way from the four zones of the city.

Ninetytwo tazias, 32 akharas, 74 'doles', 17 matams, 14 trucks and 15 camelcarts comprised the overall tazia procession which began in the city, the general secretary of Tazia Procession Committee Mr Jaimin Momin, who is also a Congress leader told UNI here.

Mr Momin opined that in view of the unusually large crowd, tazias are expected to reach the riverbed for immersion only late in the night aouout 2330 hrs.

The tazias have been accompanied by unusually huge crowds from places such Madhavpura, Shahpur, Sarangpur Kalupur, Karanj, Dariapur and from suburban places like Gomitipur, Rakhial and Saraspur, he said.

''The city is proud of the Rathyatra and Tazia which has come to symbolise 'asmita' or pride of Gujarat,'' he claimed.

The procession that reached the Electricity House was received by leaders of Ekta Committee comprising the Mahant of the famous Jagannath mandir, political leaders and social activists.

Tazias after the ceremonial welcome will go onward to Khanpur river where small tazias of 5ft to 8ft in height will be set afloat while bigger ones will be made wet symbolically and brought back to their places of origin.

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