Gadchiroli Oct. 20 (District Correspondent) The Kojagiri festival was celebrated by the workers of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (MANS) in a different way. The festival, that was planned to be celebrated in the graveyard of village Chatgaon in Dhanora taluka by to remove the blind faith of the villagers that the persons buried in the grave yard roam around in the area. But due to strong opposition of the villagers, the venue of the programme was changed to a main square of the village.
The activists of the Samiti however, finally succeeded in convincing the villagers that there are no any ghosts nor the dead persons move in the grave yard. The villagers also got convinced after watching the experiments.
The workers of MANS had deliberately declared to celebrate the kojagiri in the graveyard itself to remove the belief of the villagers about dead persons. However, some of the villagers approached the spot and asked the workers not to celebrate it in the grave yard. The police then intervened in the matter and finally the programme was organized in the main square in presence of the police and the villagers including those who opposed it.
The workers showed different experiments of the so-called miracles and told how the common people are cheated and exploited by the fake babas by spreading rumours and superstition among them.
Mr. Vilas Nimborkar, state executive member of the Samiti called upon the people to get away from the superstition and not to fall prey to the evil designs of the fake babas. Mr. Vitthalrao Kothare informed about the MANS activities. The information about the snakes and remedies of the snake bite was given by Prof. Vilas Parkhi. Mr. Haridas Kotrange spoke about the health issues.
Mr. Gopal Uike, former Sarpanch, Raju Jiwani, ex ZP councilor, Mr. Khating, Incharge of Police Station, Govindrao Bramhanwade, Purushottam Thakre, Shabbir Sheikh, Wamanrao Bhoyar, Sudhakar Dudhbawre, Wamanrao gurnule, Dr. D. P. Katkar, Damodar Upparwar, Rajubhau Thakre, Sanjay shende, Aditya Nandeshwar, Mohit Gandate were also prominently present on the occasion.
Prof. Vilas Parkhi conducted the programme and Damodar Sayam proposed the vote of thanks.
