Republic Day celebrated in Punjab, Haryana

CHANDIGARH: Punjab, Haryana and Union Territory of Chandigarh today joined the nation in celebrating the 66th Republic Day amid tight security arrangements.

Contingents of police, home guards and NCC among others participated in the Republic Day parades held at various district headquarters in the two states and their joint capital Chandigarh.

School students presented colourful programmes while tableaux were taken out depicting the overall development of the states during these parades, which were held under cloudy conditions at most places in the region.

Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki unfurled the national flag at Karnal.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar took salute at Mohali and Kaithal respectively.

Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal unfurled the tri-colour at Jalandhar.

In Chandigarh, Adviser to the Administrator, UT, Chandigarh, Vijay Kumar Dev unfurled the tri-colour and took the salute.

The functions to mark the Republic Day were also organised at other district headquarters in Punjab and Haryana including Jalandhar, Patiala, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Amritsar, Ambala, Gurgaon, Karnal, Rohtak and Hisar.

There was no report of any untoward incident taking place in any part of the region, officials said.

Tight security arrangements were put in place in the two states and UT Chandigarh to ensure no untoward incident takes place during the Republic Day celebrations.