Jain Sangh to air drop silver coins!

HYDERABAD: Commemo-rating Lord Mahavir’s 2611th birth anniversary, the biggest festival for Jains, Sri Jain Seva Sangh will take out a procession, Bhavya Julus, from the Jain temple on the MG road on Thursday. The procession starts at 8 a.m and will pass through Secunderabad clock tower, MG statue, Paradise circle, Balamrai and reach Classic garden at 10.30 a.m. Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, the Sangh committee members said a chartered flight will be pressed into service to air drop around seven quintals of rose petals and nearly 400 silver coins of one gram each during the procession. “A Vishal Dharma Sabha will be held at Classic garden from 10.30 am. Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, deputy chief minister Damodar Raja Narsimha, Rajeshji Moonath, a minister from Chhattisgarh will grace the occasion,” said Gauthamchand Jain, former president of the Sangh. He further said the week-long celebrations commenced on April 1. Activities like Annadanam, vastra danam, eye-camps, discounted dialysis services, health checkups etc are being taken up as part of the celebrations. “The motto of the celebrations is live and let live. In these days of complete violence spread over, the teachings of non-violence as propounded by Lord Mahavir are quite relevant,” said Sheel Kumar Jain, co-convenor of the Sangh. Sajjan Raj, another co-convenor, said though the government had declared Jains as minorities in the State, they were yet to get privileges like other minority communities. He further informed that GHMC had agreed to order closure of all meat shops across the city on Mahavir Jayanthi.