Chhath Ghats in Jamshedpur await cleanliness drive

Jamshedpur: With no guidelines on Chhath in place, several Chhath ghats in the city are waiting for the cleanliness drive. Social and cultural organisations are clueless for making proper cleanliness, lighting facilities, life saving divers along the ghats.

According to the officials of Chhath Ghat Committees thousands of devotees every year offer “Araghya“ to the setting sun at various ghats in Mango, Adityapur, Baghbera, Sidghora but in view of pandemic Covid-19 no step has been taken so far. Lack of cleanliness remains a major concern.

The officials said that there is an urgent need to properly clean the river banks, and various water bodies on the occasion of the festival of Chhat Puja, which is celebrated with gaiety and fervour by people of the city. They said that people take bath in water tanks and rivers and therefore it is essential that the cleaning work of these water bodies is completed on time.

“ We are clueless as there has been no proper guidelines for the festival. Only after the instructions from the Government, the administration would ensure proper lighting facilities, lifesaving divers along the ghats,” said an official.

The task of cleaning up the ghats is vested on Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC), Mango Notified Area Committee (MNAC) and Jugsalai municipality while Tata Steel’s subsidiary Jusco will be providing electricity and installing lightings at major ghats for the festivity.

Nonetheless, the police particularly of Kadma, Sonari, Sidhgora, Baridih and Telco have been asked to increase the pace of their mobility in the rundown areas beside the two popular rivers to prevent unlawful incidents.

The members of the local peace committees of the concerned police stations have been urged to make regular visits to the ghats to keep the possible suspects away from the site till the festival gets over. And, the members too, have agreed to cooperate with the administration to make the festival get over peacefully.

“The administration should also ensure proper lighting facilities, life saving divers along the ghats. Thousands of devotees would offer “Araghya“ to the setting sun at various ghats in Mango, Adityapur, Baghbera, Sidghora. The administration should deploy police personnel and emergency services like ambulances at riverbanks,” noted Central Peace Committee secretary Ram Babu Singh.

The most important task before the administration is to barricade the danger zone and stop the devotees and revellers from breaching into that area. In the light of past incidents of drowning the administration has got serious with this issue and has taken firm measures in this regard particularly, in Mango, Sonari and Kadma where the possibility of accidents are high.