Holi, the festival of colour was celebrated today with a riot of colour and revelers thronging lanes and by lanes dancing to the accompaniment of drums in several parts of the country.
However, the festivities were marred in Mumbai as more than 140 people, mostly children, suffered colour poisoning and many were hospitalized.

The incident occurred in Shastrinagar area of Dharavi this afternoon where several people developed allergic reaction to the colours and rushed to the Lokmanya Tilak municipal general hospital at Sion. According to the hospital sources 144 cases of colour poisoning came to the hospital and 50 people were admitted.

Elsewhere in the country, gusto and bonhomie marked the festival of fun and frolic which passed off peacefully as police kept a hawk-eye vigil. The main celebrations was in Mathura,with thousands of people including foreign tourists assembling in several temples at Mathura and Vrindavan, mainly in Banke Bihari and Dwarkadheesh temples, for celebrating Holi. Large number of foreign tourist have also eached ISKON temple in Vrindavan to take part in Holi celebrations there.

In Varanasi, the Ghats and other places were crowded with visiting foreign tourists who want to be witness of this colour festival.
In Punjab, lakhs of devotees have gathered at Sri Anand Pur Sahib to celebrate the three day festival, which began yesterday.

In West Bengal also,large number of people have gathered in Shantiniketan to witness the Vasanta Utsav started by Gurdev Rabindranath Tagore. Police arrested about 200 persons across the state because of unruly behavior.

Effigies of Holika, the sister of Hiranyakashyap, the demon king, were set ablaze at several places symbolising the destruction of evil.

President Pratibha Patil, Vice-President Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh greeted the people on the occasion.