Hyderabad: Sankranti festival was celebrated with fervor and joy in the city on Tuesday with people flying kites throughout the day after performing puja in the morning.
The lanes and bylanes in residential colonies and basthis wore a festive look with colourful rangolis in front of their main gates extending people's Sankranti festival wishes.
After performing special pujas in connection with the festival, the children accompanied by their parents flew kites from their terraces and competed with other kites to cut them. The revelers turned jubilant after cutting other kites in their colonies.
The revelers enjoyed the festival not only by flying kites but also dancing to the pulsating Telangana folk songs, enjoying delicious spicy non-vegetarian food.
The kite shops in General Bazaar, Monda Market, Dhoolpet, Mangalhat, Begum Bazaar and Gulzar Houz near Charminar, among other areas, did brisk business selling kites in different designs and manja. As the city police cracked the whip on those selling Chinese manja, most shopkeepers hesitated to sell Chinese manja this time.
The sleuths of Hyderabad task force police on Monday arrested as many as 148 people after registering 107 cases for indulging in illegal business of prohibited Chinese manja. As many as 7,334 Chinese manja bobbins, all worth Rs.90 lakh were seized from the possession of the arrested persons.
