Mumbai/Pune/Nagpur, Jun 21 (PTI) From the iconic Gateway of India and the Marine Drive to Thane jail and camps of Lord Vitthal’s devotees to a mental hospital, International Yoga Day was celebrated across Maharashtra, with people and politicians rolling out mats and performing postures and Pranayama.
Yoga and meditation sessions were organised near the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, at various parks, terraces of housing societies, lawns, and inside auditoriums.
As many as 10,000 people participated in a yoga session organised by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA), India’s largest container port, at Uran in Navi Mumbai on the occasion of International Yoga Day.
The JNPA claimed the ‘Yoga Sangam’ was the second largest Yoga session in India held on Saturday.
At least 250 people participated in the International Yoga Day event organised by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at the Gaimukh Temple complex, a protected monument located in the vicinity of the famous Lonar crater in Buldhana district.
Pune Metro staff performed yogasanas on the campus of a station in the city.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis participated in Warkari Bhakti Yoga” event in Pune, joined by his cabinet colleague Chandrakant Patil. Deputy CM Eknath Shinde stretched himself on a mat at a “Yoga by the Bay” event at Marine Drive.
Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal performed yoga at events organised at Yashwant Stadium in Nagpur and Dahisar in Mumbai, respectively.
Fadnavis said ‘warkaris’ or devotees of Lord Vitthal, who reached Pune with annual ‘palkhi’ (palanquin) processions of Sant Tukaram Maharaj and Sant Dnyaneshwar Maharaj, were practising yoga at their camps.
He said students from 700 colleges affiliated with the Savitribai Phule Pune University performed Yoga in their respective institutes.
“Yoga is India’s culture and tradition, and it holds the key to a happy life by rejuvenating body and soul,” Fadnavis said, hailing PM Modi for laying the foundation of the International Yoga Day.
Shinde said yoga should be inculcated in the younger generation right from childhood so that they don’t get addicted to anything else other than the ancient practice.
Yoga Day was celebrated enthusiastically in Thane city, with inmates of the Central Jail and the mental hospital participating separately.
Thane Central Jail Superintendent Rani Bhosale said 50 inmates, including 20 female under-trial prisoners, performed Yoga postures in the morning hours on Saturday.
Thane Mental Hospital conducted yoga sessions on Friday and Saturday, engaging patients and hospital staff, said Dr. Netaji Mulik, Superintendent of the Hospital.
In Uran, Navi Mumbai, the JNPA marked the International Day of Yoga with a massive celebration titled ‘Yoga Sangam’, claiming it to be the second-largest yoga session in India.
The gathering was organised at JNPA Township under the guidance of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, in collaboration with the Ministry of AYUSH on the theme of “Yoga for One Earth, One Health”. PTI MR SPK CLS COR ARU NSK
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