Desert Festival concludes amid fireworks & stellar performances

Jaisalmer: The state’s famed Desert Festival concluded on Saturday with grand fireworks under the full moon amid performances by singers Swaroop Khan and Mame Khan at Sam sand dunes.

Thousands of tourists flocked the Sam sand dunes on the last day of the festival. People enjoyed the sunset, camel rides and jeep safari.

Earlier, people took part in camel race, camel dance, horse dance, tug of war and sand art display. Cabinet minister Shale Mohammad, MLA Ruparam, district collector Ashish Modi, SP Ajay Singh and other public representatives were present and distributed the prizes. Indian Idol fame Swaroop Khan and singer Mame Khan enthralled the audience with their folk songs. Gunsaar music band, too, lured the audience with their performance. People praised the performance of 12-year-old Adhishri.

In camel race, Adrim Khan of Luno ki Basti stood first. In tug of war, the local Jaisalmer team won, while the tourists’ team was the runners up. The festival concluded with grand fireworks.

A horse race was organised at Lanela ka Rann, 20km away from the district headquarters. Dozens of horses from various places, including Jaisalmer, Barmer, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, took part in the race. A horse was sold for Rs 11 lakh at the animal fair.

The horse race was held in four categories: in gallop, the speed remains normal; in maadri, the speed is medium; in choti rewal, the speed is 30-35kmph and in badi rewal the speed is 40kmph.

In gallop race, Buddhraj Singh Luna stood first. In maadri race, Bhan Singh Rajpurohit bagged the first position. In choti rewal race Kishor Singh Kutch won the first position, while in badi rewal Roop Singh of Khara Jaisalmer came first.