Football players from across the district performed puja of ground, ball and goal posts at different sports grounds of Dhanbad on the occasion of Poila Baisakh to mark the beginning of new Football season.

In Railway ground, Dhanbad which has a long tradition of over 50 years of Bar Puja, the function was held in the presence of Madhusudan TV Senior Divisional Finance Manager of Dhanbad Division of East Central Railway is also the sports officer of Dhanbad Division besides the members of two railway clubs Divisional Sport Association and Junior Rail.

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Talking to The Telegraph Online, Chandan Biswas (57) a former state level football player who represented the state in the interstate football competitions way back in 1986-87 and is also the president of DSA Railway said, “The function began at 7.30 am and continued for around 9 am during which around 17-18 players of DSA Railway and over 25 players of Junior Rail were present.”

“After the Puja the players of both the clubs of Railways also played for some time on the ground and clicked photographs,“ said Biswas and added that the tradition of Bar Puja in Dhanbad on the occasion of Poila Baisakh is very old.

Faiyaz Ahmad, General Secretary of Dhanbad Football Association, who was also present at the function, said, “Dhanbad being a neighbour of Bengal is greatly influenced by the Bengali traditions in all walks of life including football as several Dhanbad players like Kapur Banerjee played for clubs like Mohun Bagan and others.

Meanwhile,a prabhat pheri was taken out by the members of social -cultural organization Bengali Welfare Society in Bengali dominated Hirapur area of Dhanbad during which the participants also performed classing dance.