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Hindusthan Samachar
One hundred one Vanvasi pairs tied the knot at a mass wedding ceremony organised by Poorvanchal Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram at Salbari on May 1. About 4,000 local people participated in the ceremony. Shri Kamal Pugalia, Kalyan Ashram Siliguri district secretary, said that for the last few months Kalyan Ashram workers had contacted Vanvasi villagers in Tarai region and fixed the auspicious date of May 1 for the mass marriage. From May 1 a popular Vanvasi festival, Sarhul, also begins. In this period marriages take place among Vanvasis. The new wedded couples were given clothes, utensils and a steel trunk each as token of articles to start their new lives. Kalyan Ashram'sAkhil Bharatiya Samprak Pramukh, Shri Santosh Paranjape said the mass weeding was a confidence-building measure among Vanvasis.
