International Day of Yoga: Lakhs of people perform yoga 'asanas' in Punjab, Haryana to mark event

A large number of people Friday participated in the fifth International Yoga Day events which were organised at various places in Punjab and Haryana. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar described yoga as an ancient practice and said Yoga Day functions have been organised simultaneously at 80 places in the state in which about five lakh people participated.

In Chandigarh, a yoga session was held at Plaza sector 17 in which around 3,000 people took part. Punjab Governor and UT Chandigarh Administrator V P Singh Badnore joined people in the Yoga Day event. Haryana Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya also performed yoga 'asanas' in a separate event here.

Besides the Chandigarh Police, various NGO's, including Patanjali, Government college for yoga education, Bhartiya Yog Sansthan, participated in the events, officials said. Four jawans of the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) performed yoga 'asanas' on horseback during the event.

Yoga sessions were also held at 37 government schools under the National AYUSH Mission (NAM) and 10 health and wellness centres at various locations of Chandigarh. PGIMER director Jagat Ram highlighted the importance of yoga in prevention of non-communicable diseases and asked students to practice yoga regularly.

In Punjab, yoga events were held at different places, including Amritsar, Ludhiana. BSF personnel also performed yoga 'asanas' in Jalandhar.

-PTI