Flower petals showered from helicopter on kanwariyas in UP's Barabanki

The Barabanki district administration in Uttar Pradesh showered flower petals from a helicopter on the kanwariyas and devotees who have gathered at the ancient Lodheshwar Mahadev temple here on Monday.

Lucknow Zone's Additional Director General of Police (ADG) Piyush Mordia, Barabanki District Magistrate Avinash Kumar and Superintendent of Police Dinesh Kumar Singh showered flowers from the helicopter on the kanwar yatris at the temple located within the Ramnagar police station limits, an official spokesperson said.

On the instructions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, flower petals were showered on the kanwariyas and devotees who visited the temple on the third Monday of the Hindu holy month of Shravan, Kumar said.

He claimed that this kind of welcome is being accorded to kanwariyas and devotees at the temple for the first time and thanked the chief minister for it.

Temple priest Aditya Tiwari said it is estimated that more than two lakh devotees will visit the temple during the day.

"For the first time in my life, I have seen flowers being showered from a helicopter here. There is a lot of enthusiasm among people due to this," he said.

The worship is going on since the temple doors were opened at 12 night, he added.