Rankey Mela, 2022 at Namchi

Namchi, 16th July: A two-day long Rankey Mela Festival, 2022 organized by Rankey Mela Celebration Committee alongside District Administrative Centre, Tourism and Sports Department and Travel Agents Association of Sikkim was inaugurated by (OSD, RDD) Mr. Bimal Kharel at Namchi Central Park, today. Present amongst others were Chairman Skill Development Board Mr. Satish Chandra Rai, Chairperson Namchi Municipal Council Mr. Ganesh Rai, Other councillors, ADC (Namchi) Mr. Satyan K. Pradhan, Officials along side a large gathering of public.
Rakhey Mela falls on the first day of the month of Sawan of the Vikram Sambhat calendar. This mela is a celebration of monsoons and is also commonly referred as Sawaney Sankranti believed to be a ritual observance that prays for good fortune in the form of a fine harvest after the monsoons.
The inaugural day also saw the competition of various local level sports such as tug of war, pillow fight and other activities. Additionally, the mela this year has a number of attractions which include agro- vegetable exhibition, display of flower stalls set up by various Self Help Groups and Farmers Producers Organizations. Different departmental stalls of Information and Public Relations, Tourism, IHCAE (Chemchey), Namchi Smary City Ltd, Agriculture and Horticulture has also been put up at the bazaar premises.
During the course of the program the official logo alongwith various souvenirs of Rankey Mela was also unveiled by the Chief Guest and other dignitaries. The later half of the program saw the effigy burning of ‘Rankey Bhoot,’ the devil that destroys harvests which was lit up followed by various cultural extravaganzas.
It maybe mentioned that the organizing committee has adopted environment friendly options to be used during the two-day event, keeping in mind the recently enforced direction of ban on certain single-use plastic (SUP) items. Reusable alternatives made of metal, bamboo, paper and other earthy materials has been prioritised during the mela.