Pongal celebrated with pomp and gaiety in Puducherry

People decked up their homes with mango leaves and performed poojas to Sun God.

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Devotees prepare rice dishes to offer to the Hindu Sun God as they attend Pongal celebrations early morning in Mumbai, India, January 14, 2017. (Source: REUTERS)

The harvest festival of Pongal was celebrated in Puducherry with traditional gaiety and fervour on Saturday. People decked up their homes with mango leaves and performed poojas to Sun God. Clad in new garments, people turned up at various shrines to offer prayers to presiding deities. Chief Minister V Narayanasamy offered worship at the Manakula Vinayakar temple. Sugarcane and turmeric plants which are important requirements to celebrate the festival sold like hot cakes at various points.

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Lt Governor Kiran Bedi held special programmes on the eve of Pongal at Raj Nivas and all the staff and their families turned up to witness the celebration. Bedi herself performed poojas at a shed erected in the Raj Nivas. The management of centrally sponsored JIPMER a premier medical college held Rangoli competition as part of Pongal celebrations.

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A special Pongal bazaar to sell commodities at reasonable prices was also organised by the government at PAPSCO ground. Narayanasamy, Speaker V Vaithilingam, Ministers, MLAs and leaders of various outfits greeted the people of the Union Territory on the occasion of Pongal.

The harvest festival was celebrated with much fervour in Tamil Nadu and other parts of the country, especially in South India.

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