All India Devotional Song Competition, as part of Navratra Festival2019, begin here today.

 Chief Guest Chairman and MD J&K Bank RK Chibber inaugurated the event in presence of Chief Administrative Officer Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana Super Speciality Hospital Brig Dr Manmohan Harjai and celebrity singer Shanker Sawhney. On first day of the preliminary round of competition Ayush Singh from Reasi took 1st position and Kirpal-Rashpal, brothers, from Amritsar Punjab got 2nd position and 3rd position was held jointly by Sushmita from Jammu & Ananya from Udhampur.

 A total of 12 participants auditioned in which 3 were from outside state and 9 from J&K.The top performers of the day were rewarded with cash prizes of Rs 10,000,5,000 and 3,000 respectively by the Chief Guest and Guest of Honour.

Chibber, while appreciating the performance of the participating singers, announced an additional cash amount of Rs 3100 to each participant singer who qualified the audition and performed on the stage.

The Competition was adjudged by a panel of experts in musicincluding celebrity singer Shanker Sawhney, Dr Usha Bhagati, Dr Surinder KumarSharma and Dr C L Verma.

Shanker Sawhney, known for Maha Murtunjaya Jaap which has got 15 crore hits and is known for his many hit songs, enthralled the audience with his melodious songs. Former winners of the competition Ravi Kumar and Sanjeet Thomas too enthralled the audience with their presentations.

In his inaugural address, Chibber said that Navratra Festival gives big boost to J&K’s Tourism. He said if the pilgrimage of Vaishnodevi is properly tapped it can boost the economy of J&K in a bigway.

The MD called for encouraging tourists to visit other places around Katra like Patnitop, Sanasar, Bhaderwah, Shiv Khori and other parts of state  to boost the economy and providinglivelihood to Lakhs of people.

Harjai, while speaking on the occasion, said that thisfestival will prove to be the turning point in the revival of the Tourism whichhas decreased a little in the recent past and emphasized the people to come inlarge number over here.

The proceedings of the competition were conducted bychairman of the competition Rakesh Wazir. He said that popular singers havebeen lined up for performances as guest singers. Amarjit Singh Bijli willperform tomorrow besides acting as judge, he added.

The All India Devotional Song Competition is being organizedby SMVD Shrine Board and Department of Tourism, J&K Bank and Shraddha MhOne with active support of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana Super SpecialistHospital, Surya Milk, Tiwari Super Speciality Hospital Farokhabad, Pure RootsHerbal, Nidesh Builders Pvt. Ltd. Jammu, Divinity, 92.7 Big FM, Yog AshramTrust, District Administration Reasi and the local community.

Those present on the occasion included Arun Gandotra,President J&K Bank; Jatinder Kumar Gupta, Commandant CRPF; Rakesh Wazir,Chairman Devotional Song Committee & President Hotel Association Katra;Anand Pal Singh, Zonal Head J&K Bank; Naresh Kumar Singh, ASP Katra; VivekShekhar, Dy.SP Katra; Yog Acharya Swami Yoga Nand ji Maharaj, Sudha Gupta,Virender Kesar and Parbhat Singh among others.