Lucknow: Holi and Friday prayers during Ramazan passed off peacefully with social harmony and coordination across Uttar Pradesh, including Sambhal, which is considered as sensitive amidst tight security arrangements, official sources said here.

The sources said that after Holika Dahan, the process of greeting each other on Holi by applying abir-gulal had started from this morning itself. During this, tight security arrangements were made in Sambhal as well as Moradabad, Rampur, Amroha and Bijnor districts.

The Holika Dahan program, which started after special prayers in temples for the progress of the nation and the well-being of the common people and to maintain peace, continued till early Friday morning.

There were chances of rain spoiling the colours of Holi due to strong winds and drizzle in some areas including Lucknow on Thursday evening, but amidst bright sunshine, people enjoyed the festival of colours and congratulated each other on the festival of Holi by throwing abir, gulal and hugging each other. During this, there was also a round of thandai and gujiyas.

On this auspicious occasion, Goraksha Peethadheeshwar and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath started the Holi celebration by worshipping Holika Bhasma today morning. He enjoyed faag songs in Gorakhnath temple and did cow service by applying ash and gulal to the cows. He also fed grains to the ducks near Bhim Sarovar and peacocks near the temple's cowshed.

For security reasons, mosques were covered with tarpaulin in some cities including Sambhal, Shahjahanpur, Moradabad and the time of Friday prayers was changed to after 2 pm. Peace prevailed in the entire UP during this period and no untoward incident was reported from anywhere.

Thandai was consumed in abundance amidst the rain of colours in Varanasi, the city of Baba Vishwanath. People were seen enjoying themselves, drenched in colours from head to toe. In Prayagraj too, there was a lot of use of colour pichkari.

Children, women, elderly and youth were immersed in the fun of Holi. In entire UP including Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, Barabanki, Ayodhya, Kanpur and Deoria, youth were seen dancing to film songs, while in entire Bundelkhand including Hamirpur, Mahoba, Banda, Chitrakoot and Jhansi, folk songs were in full swing.

On this occasion, Muslims set an example of communal harmony by wholeheartedly congratulating their Hindu friends on Holi. Political parties congratulated people on Holi through Twitter and Facebook.

CM Yogi, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party Chief Mayawati, Congress state president Ajay Rai and many other political figures greeted people on Holi. On this occasion, many political parties organised Holi milan celebrations at their places.