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Oxford police chief intervened to get
permission
for nagar kirtan for Sikhs
WSN Network
Sikhs mark Vaisakhi across
city
LEICESTER: Leicester's annual Vaisakhi parade to celebrate the Sikh
new year took place around Leicester on Sunday. The parade is a
focal point for Sikhs from across the UK.
They met at the Guru Nanak Gudwarah on Holy Bones in Leicester and
travelled to visit each of the city's gurdwaras. Resham Singh Sandhu,
chairman of the Council of Faiths in Leicester, said up to 15,000
people from across the country turned up.
OXFORD: The local Sikh community, struggling against time to get
permission to carry out the annual Vaisakhi nagar kirtan (parade)
finally got the last-minute go-ahead, thanks to the city's police
chief.
The Sikh community which is intimately conncted to the Cherwell
Drive, Marston gurdwara, was earlier told their Vaisakhi
celebrations could not go ahead and the city's Safety Advisory
Group, SAG, had maintained that it was so because the Sikh community
had not provided the right paperwork for the event to go ahead.
However, Supt Jim Trotman intervened, ensuring a go ahead for the
Sunday's event.
He said: "One of my officers who sits on SAG came to me with this
and I decided to get involved." SAG is a stakeholder group made up
of representatives from police, bus companies, taxi firms, and the
city and county councils.
Supt Trotman said: "It was like saying: 'sorry you haven't filled
out the Christmas insurance liability forms, so Santa can't come
down the chimney this year'.
"It is a very multi-cultural, cohesive and safe city and it's very
important that the police help to promote this."
Pargan Singh Mattu, who is organising the parade, said it was an
enormous relief the event was going ahead. He said: "This is our
first year in our new gurdwara and everyone was very busy going back
and forth moving and things got delayed.
"The main difficulties we had were arranging road closures because
we had not given enough notice. I'm just so grateful to the police
and Supt Trotman for all their help."
The Sikh community are not the only ones to praise Supt Trotman for
his actions.
Marston councillor Altaf Kahn has also thanked Supt Trotman for the
role he has played in making the festivities a reality.
The Vaisakhi celebration marks the day when Khalsa - the pure one,
according to Sikh faith - was born and Sikhs were given their clear
identity and a code to live by in 1699. On this day, Sikhs reflect
on the values taught to them by their Gurus and celebrate the birth
of Khalsa.
Supt Trotman said: "Everyone in Oxford should be proud that we have
a Sikh community that is prepared to go to such efforts to celebrate
this occasion."
25
April, 2007
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