Four-day Chhath festival begins in Bihar

The Patna district administration has made elaborate arrangements on the river banks to manage mass gathering on the occasion of Chhath Puja

Chhath Puja, Bihar’s biggest festival started on November 17. The four-day festival, which began with Nahay-Khay (bathe and eat), will end on November 20 with araghya (prayers) to the rising sun.

The Patna district administration has made elaborate arrangements on the river banks to manage mass gathering. Additional force has been deployed on every ghat.

Devotees reached the Ganga ghats early in the morning, took bath and offered prayers to the sun with the river water. They then ate rice, bottle gourd and other vegetables.

Over 100 ghats have been identified in Patna where devotees can offer prayers. Safety barricades, lighting arrangements, watch towers, toilets and changing rooms have also put up on the ghats by the district administration. Approach roads have been relaid.

Special attention has been given to those ghats where people gather in large numbers (more than two lakh), such as the Collectorate Ghat, Mahendru Ghat, Digha Ghat, Janardan Ghat, Gai Ghat and the Gandhi Ghat.

The administration is supplying Ganga water to houses and colonies through tankers. The Patna Municipal Corporation has sent 32 such tankers to various wards.

Apart from the ghats, Patna District Magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh and Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Rajeev Mishra, along with senior officials, also inspected various ponds and took stock of the preparations for the festival.