Raipur: The main achievement of Sindhis here is that though their population in the City is 1 lakh out of total population of 10 lakhs(i.e. only 10%), the main business activities of the City (such as Stationery, Cloth, Maniar, Kiryana, etc.) is in their hands! They are quite well off particularly after this City became the capital of the newly formed Chhatisgarh State. They command a good respect among local people also particularly for their noble social activities. The Sindhi localities in the City are Fafadi, Jawaharuagar, Lakhenagar, Katora Talao, Telebandha, Nahar Pada, Rajinder Nagar, Geetanagar, Shankarnagar, Anupamnagar, Shailendranagar, Devendranagar, Shyamnagar, Sindhi Colony, etc. The worth seeing Sindhi Sports are Jhulelal Dham (in Shailendranagar) with the cost of 1% crores and Sindhu Bhavan in Devendranagar etc. However one cannot afford to miss a world famous ‘Shadani Darbar’ at Dhamtari Road, National Highway. This Darbar manages to send over 100 pilgrims to Sindh for visiting Shadani Darbar there & other pilgrimage places of Sindh every year. In turn, nearly 500 Pakistani Hindu Sindhi pilgrims visit Indian Shadani Darbar as well as other important places in India. Even the local people of Raipur & neighbouring cities visit this Darbar with reverence. Sant Yudhistralal is present head of this Darbar, which is unique in philanthropic & religious activities as well as in arranging stay of pilgrims in the Darbar. Here Sindhis have formed many associations / Panchayats, Bharatiya Sindhu Sabha & a General Sindhi Panchayat whose President and Secretary respectively are S/Shri Anand Kukreja and Jawaharlal Budhwani. More over the President & Secretary, respectively of whole Chhatisgarh State Sindhi Panchayat are S/Shri Srichand Sundrani & Hargundas Menghwani. Dr. Godeja is President of Chhatisgarh Sindhi Sahitya Academy & Chhatisgarh Bharatiya Sindhu Sabha President is Shri Murlidhar Makhija. Every Sindhi Organisation is doing Social activities in its respective field. The city has one Sindhi School where Sindhi language is taught upto Std. V. There are 3:4 Sindhi Temples & a Temple of Bajrang Bali in Telebandha Locality. While passing from Sindhi pockets, one feels that one is moving in Bazars of Sindh!
Many annual cultural festivals take place here (Particularly in above mentioned Shadani Darbar) and the Sindhis of this Capital City have contributed enough in preserving the Sindhi Sanskriti & language. They don’t miss to speak in Sindhi among themselves & at home. Being capital, many places are worth seeing here.
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