A 1,000 indigenously-made sky lamps will illuminate the skies during the annual Hubballi Akashbutti Habba-2023 to be held on Saturday.
Addressing presspersons along with office-bearers of the organising committee, president of the committee Raju V. Jartarghar said that in a bid to discourage China-made products, they have involved youth organisations and individuals to make sky lamps indigenously. And, they have already kept 1,000 sky lamps ready for the event.
Mr. Jartarghar said that as part of the sky lamp festival, they have already begun conducting a series of events aimed at creating awareness on the rich cultural heritage of the country and various traditional practices. And, all the events will conclude with the sky lamp festival on Saturday to be held at Moorusavir Mutt playground in Hubballi.
“Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi will inaugurate the Akashbutti Habba in the presence of Sri Gurusiddha Rajayogindra Swami of Moorusavir Mutt at 5 p.m. on Saturday. MLA Mahesh Tenginakai and others will also participate in the event, which will go on till 11 p.m.,” he said.
To a query, he said that they have already taken the requisite permissions from the police and fire brigage personnel and adequate precautionary measures will be in place during the event.
“In order to make it a smooth event, we plan to set off sky lamps in the air in a batch of 25 each every 10-15 minutes. It will help prevent overcrowding on the ground and also, any possible mishap,” he said.
All the sky lamps will be distributed free. At the same time, there will be prizes for the best sky lamps made by the participants, he said. The winners will take home cash prizes of ₹15,000, ₹10,000 and ₹5,000, respectively, in addition to consolation prizes.
Mentor for the event Lingaraj Patil, office-bearers Devadas Habib, Mithun Chavan, Deepak Jituri and others were present.