Phool Walon Ki Sair pageant postpone over DDAs restricted permission

For the primary time since its revival in 1962, besides throughout the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, ‘Phool Walon Ki Sair’, Delhi’s centuries-old pageant embodying non secular concord, won’t happen this yr, stated its organisers.

The week-long occasion was initially scheduled to start on November 2, however has now been postponed. Organisers said this is because of extended uncertainty and delayed permission concerning the usage of its conventional venue, Aam Bagh Park in Mehrauli, the place the truthful and different pageant occasions are sometimes held.

Organisers from Anjuman Sair-e-Gul Faroshan society stated that after corresponding with the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), which manages the park, for a number of months with out receiving full approval, they’d no various however to postpone. A decision stated, “It is unanimously determined to postpone the organisation of Phool Waalon Ki Sair for this yr to March 2026, as a consequence of the truth that requisite permission for utilizing Aam Bagh has not been granted by DDA thus far, coupled with the truth that the extent of air pollution has change into vital in Delhi.”

A DDA official stated permission was delayed as a consequence of “lack of readability”. It was granted solely on Tuesday, 10 days after the committee postponed the pageant.

The approval is just partial and doesn’t allow amusement rides. “If the committee pays the reserving quantity and secures approvals from different our bodies, they will maintain occasions aside from truthful rides,” the official stated.

Organisers stated this “restricted permission” defeats the pageant’s spirit. “The truthful is integral; with out rides and stalls, there isn’t a pleasure. What will we do with the partial permission? We already canceled bookings,” stated Usha Kumar, the committee’s secretary.

Ms. Kumar stated that final yr, the day earlier than the truthful, the DDA withdrew permission for the rides. To stop recurrence, the committee sought approval since March. DDA repeatedly stated the park in query was forest land, she added.

The DDA official denied that the park is forest land and attributed the confusion to “lack of readability”.

Over the years, Phool Walon Ki Sair has grown right into a public occasion with individuals from totally different walks of life taking part. “It’s a working-class individuals’s pageant… denying permission is erasing tradition and historical past. Thousands of daily-wage staff, rickshaw pullers, and migrants attend it yearly. For many, this isn’t simply the truthful,” stated historian Sohail Hashmi.

“The authorities are systematically focusing on locations that signify the town’s syncretic traditions. Hindus and Muslims have celebrated this pageant collectively since earlier than DDA even existed. How can they now dictate the way it needs to be celebrated,” he added.

Dating again to 1811, Phool Walon Ki Sair – the procession of flower sellers – is one among Delhi’s oldest traditions, uniting Hindus and Muslims, who collectively provide floral chaadars and pankhas on the dargah of Khwaja Bakhtiar Kaaki and the temple of Yogmaya in Mehrauli. It was halted throughout British rule in 1942 and revived in 1962 by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.