KHAIRPUR, Oct 25: Arrangements have been completed for three-day 183rd annual Urs celebration of multi-lingual poet and Sufi saint Sachal Sarmast, scheduled to begin at his shrine in Daraza near Ranipur on Friday, October 29.

Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim will inaugurate the Urs by laying a wreath on the tomb of Sachal Sarmast.

On Friday morning, a Mehfil-i-Sama will be held for a select audience where folk singers will render a couple of Sachal Sarmast's songs. It will be followed by award distribution ceremony.

The Sachal Memorial Committee has nominated Bhooral Fakir Bhatti of Daraza and Sanam Marui for the award of best singers, Mir Sobdar Saeed for poetry, Abdul Rahim Sikandari for research and Mohammad Soomar Channa for Sughar (folk poetry).

In the evening, a music concert will be held for people, in which Fakir Qalandar Bukhsh, Tufail Sanjrani, Deeba Sehar and others will perform.

On the second day, a Sachal Literary Conference will be held in which Amar Sindhu, Monis Ayaz, Malik Nadeem, Tajal Baiwas, Fattah Malik, Inam Shaikh and others will read papers on Sachal Sarmast and Tasawwuf.

At midnight, a Mushaira will be held which will continue till early morning. Around 100 poets including Adal Soomro, Ayaz Gul, Mukhtar Malik and Akhtar Dargahi will recite their verses.

Agricultural and livestock exhibitions will also be held on the occasion.

loadshedding: Hundreds of people from Sobhodero and Kot Diji talukas staged demonstrations in Sami and Liyari towns on Sunday in protest against an unscheduled loadshedding in 50 villages.

They alleged that officials of the Ranipur Hesco division suspend power supply to their villages for 10 hours.

They said they had been facing hardships in preparing Sehri and Iftar due to an artificial loadshedding.

They said they could not irrigate their crops because tube wells could not run without power.

The deputy general secretary of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, Sindh, Mir Mohammad Meerak, said excesses of Hesco officials had crossed all the limits.