Hundreds of devotees from across the country on Tuesday assembled in the provincial capital to attend the celebrations of 969th three-day annual Urs of Lahore’s patron sufi saint, Hazrat Ali bin Usman Alhajveri popularly known as Data Ganj Bakhsh.The celebrations commenced with the laying of traditional Chaadar by Punjab Minister for Religious Affairs Auqaf Haji Ehsanuddin Quresh on the grave of the great sufi saint of the subcontinent. The Auqaf Department said the government has allocated Rs 8 million to provide facilities to the devotees. An estimated 400 security guards and 170 volunteers of the department have been deployed to perform security duties. The department has also installed cameras in the Darbar premises to monitor the Urs celebrations. Camp offices of WAPDA, WASA, Civil Defence and first aid have also been set up to facilitate devotees.
