Excelsior Correspondent
REASI, June 25: The historic 3-day Agar Jitto Mela which attracted more than 40,000 people concluded today.
A small village Agar, located about 5 km from Katra, was beautifully decorated for the big event with thousands of devotees from within and outside the State including Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pardesh thronging the place to pay obeisance to Baba Jitto Mal- a farmer, who had preferred to end his life instead of bearing the injustice at the hands of greedy landlords.
The Agar Jitto Mela is organized to pay tribute to the Baba Jitto Mal, also known as the Baba Jitto to commemorate his sacrifice.
The devotees took holy bath at springs known for healing power and paid obeisance at the temple constructed in the memory of the saint farmer. It is believed that by taking a bath at the spring, people can get rid of several skin diseases and cure the victims of witchcraft.
The devotees also sought blessings of Bua Kodi, the daughter of Jitto, who jumped on the pyre of the Baba.
Various Departments like Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Handicrafts, Handloom, Sericulture, Employment and Rural Development Departments as well as banks including J&K Bank, SBI and RBI had installed stalls which witnessed huge rush of farmers and youth from various areas. Ethnic foot stalls and finished food products were main attraction in the Mela.
District Development Commissioner, Reasi, Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary personally supervised all the activities scheduled for three days while as Assistant Commissioner Development Joginder Singh Rai, Project Officer Jagdish Mehra and Mela Officer Sher Singh arranged all the logistics and coordinated with departments.
MLA Reasi, Baldev Raj Sharma and MLC Jugal Kishore Sharma also attended various functions and appreciated the efforts of District Development Commissioner and his team.
On the occasion, Dr Shahid announced that a “Reasi Festival” is being planned as an annual affair for depicting rich cultural heritage of district and to achieve the target a cultural society is being constituted. He also announced that a permanent stage will be constructed at Agar for staging the show “Bawa Jitto” every year.
Director, Natrang Theatre Group, Balwant Thakur honoured DDC for his initiatives in making Mela a grand success. The honour was conferred on him by former Minister and MLC Jugal Kishore.
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