Pahari Mandir in Ranchi will keep its annual date with the Tricolour on January 26, but it might not be the tallest one that was unfurled atop the hill last year.
The first anniversary of the world's tallest national flag on Ranchi Hill will not be marked because Ranchi Pahari Mandir Vikas Samiti, entrusted with maintaining the Tricolour and the flag-post, is not confident of hoisting it without glitches, which are bound to invite the wrath of Jharkhand High Court.
Mukesh Agarwal, spokesperson of the samiti, told The Telegraph , "By orders of the high court, we have to ensure that whenever we hoist the flag, it has to be at its maximum height and must not get torn like it happened last year. The system of hoisting the flag is so technical that it doesn't give guarantee that there will be no problem. So, we are indecisive."
Aditya Kumar Anand, subdivisional officer of Ranchi, concurred.
"We are not even confident whether the flag will be hoisted on January 26 at all. We will hold a meeting on understanding the difficulties, if any, in hoisting the flag and then take a call. A flag will be indeed hoisted atop Pahari temple in keeping with tradition, but we are not sure whether the tallest one will be unfurled."
On August 17 last year, Jharkhand High Court had said that disrespect to the Tricolour, which was mounted on the tallest flag-post of 293 feet, would not be accepted under any circumstances. It directed the Ranchi deputy commissioner to consider unfurling the flag at Pahari Mandir only on special occasions.
The directive came after a series of misadventures since the time Union defence minister Manohar Parrikar first hoisted the Tricolour on January 23.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by one Kailash Yadav, who complained that the Tricolour had got stuck at half-mast on April 17 last year due to a malfunctioning motor. The rope the flag was tied to also slipped out of the rotation wheel at the top of the pole.
This apart, the flag suffered tears at least seven times since January 24, 2016.
Weighing 60kg and 66ftx99ft in size, the flag was also touted to be the largest in the country till Chhattisgarh staked claim to that title in April last year.
