Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Tuesday skipped the opening ceremony of the 977th urs of Hazrat Ali Bin Usman Al-Hajvery (RA), known as Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The TV channel quoting government sources quoted the Punjab CM did not attend the inaugural ceremony because of a meeting of the provincial cabinet due later in the day.

Chief Minister Buzdar was the chief guest to lay a chaddar at the grave of the saint, perform a floral wreath ceremony and he was also supposed to inaugurate the free milk sabeel outside the Data Sahib shrine in Lahore, as per the programme.

Last month, the CM Punjab also did not participate in the ghusal (washing) ceremony of the grave of the saint with rosewater, the TV channel reported.

The three-day urs of Data Sahib has been started in which thousands of devotees thronged the shrine and prayed for the progress, prosperity and stability of the country.

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The district administration has taken all necessary measures to maintain peace and security during the Urs.

Foolproof security arrangements have been made and in this regard as 2,000 police personnel have been deployed while three SPs, seven DSPs, 28 sub-inspectors, and 228 upper subordinates are performing the security duty. Lahore Police have made three-tier security before any devotee could enter the shrine premises including walkthrough gates, metal detectors and electric barriers.

Police have directed the deployed security staff to ensure the mask wearing and social distancing among the visitors.