AMRITSAR SAHIB, Punjab—Holiest Sikh shrine Sri Harmandir Sahib witnessed a flood of devotees on January 1 i.e. the start of new English year 2018. Despite of extremely cold weather and foggy environment, devotees of all religions were seen paying obeisance at the sanctum sanctorum on the start of New Year of Gregorian calendar.
All the passages leading to the sanctum sanctorum including the Heritage Walk were rushed with thousands of devotees of all age groups. A recordable count of devotees was observable in the inside periphery of Sri Harmandir Sahib. It become tough for the devotees to walk freely on the periphery.
Devotees had to wait for at least three hours in the queue to pay obeisance inside the sanctum sanctorum Sri Harmandir Sahib.
On being contacted by Sikh24, Manager of Sri Harmandir Sahib S. Sulakhan Singh Bhangali informed that the devotees had been arriving into the sanctum sanctorum on December 31 to start their new year with the blessings of Guru Sahib.
He added that thousands of devotees were sitting inside the periphery of sanctum sanctorum and as the New Year started at 00:00 hours all the devotees started echoing ovation “Bole So Nihal, Sat Sri Akal”. “The devotees started their New Year 2018 by taking a dip in the holy pond of Sri Harmandir Sahib” he said.
