Guj celebrates Uttarayan festival; Shah, Patel join in kite flying

AHEMEDABAD: People gathered on rooftops, terraces and open grounds across Gujarat on Saturday to fly kites as they celebrated the Uttarayan festival with great fervour.

Union minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel also joined in the festivities with their families.

The skies teemed with kites of all colours and shapes while music and delicacies such as fafda-jalebi, undhiyu and chikki added to the fun. It was after a gap of two years that the festival was celebrated without the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic. But the festivities were marred by several incidents of people getting injured due to sharp kite strings or falling from heights while flying kites.

In Visngar town of Mehsana district, a three-year-old girl died after her throat was slashed by so-called `Chinese' kite string, police said.

Senior BJP leader and Union minister Amit Shah celebrated the festival with his family, friends and party leaders in Vejalpur locality of Ahmedabad. He began the day by offering prayers at the Jagannath temple here with his family members.

Later, he and his wife visited a residential society in Vejalpur where they flew kites on the terrace of a building with local BJP leaders and supporters by their side.

Chief Minister Patel visited Dariyapur locality and met his old friends and BJP workers. He also flew kites from the roof of a building there.

Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi celebrated the festival by flying kites in his hometown Surat with his family members and friends. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah, CM Patel and Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat greeted people on the occasion.

''Best wishes to all of you. May this festival of kites bring joy, excitement and enthusiasm in our lives, wish all of you stay healthy,'' Modi said in his message in Gujarati on his Twitter handle.

''Best wishes to everyone on the auspicious festival of Uttarayan. May Lord Surya Narayan bring happiness, peace and prosperity in everyone's life,'' Shah tweeted.

In his message, the Governor appealed to the people to nurture ''mutual affection, harmony and sympathy'' on the occasion of Makar Sankranti-Uttarayan festival.

While in the walled city area of Ahmedabad people gathered on rooftops, people in the western part of the city rented terraces in the Old City to celebrate the festival. ''The wind speed is excellent, and we are very happy and enjoying the day,'' said a reveller.

''There is not much wind, but we hope it will get better,'' said a man in Rajkot.

The 108 Emergency Management Service reported 29 cases of kite-related injuries till afternoon including 14 in Ahmedabad alone.

There were also 73 cases of people falling down from heights including 16 in Ahmedabad and 11 in Surat. Kalpesh Thakor (18) from Limbayat area of Surat city was injured by kite string and had to be shifted to a hospital, officials said.

Khyati Patel (30) was injured with kite string causing a leg injury in Palsana locality of Surat city and was shifted to a hospital in an ambulance.