Gopal Rai inspects ghat before Chhath Puja

New Delhi: Delhi’s development minister Gopal Rai on Friday inspected a Yamuna ghat in North Delhi to take stock of the preparations for the festival. According to the government, 565 ghats are being set up along the banks of Yamuna for Chhath Puja, a major festival of people from Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.

The development minister, accompanied by senior officers of irrigation and flood control department, DJB and revenue department, inspected Kudesia Ghat at Kashmari Gate. 

“Out of 565 ghats, 50 pucca ghats have been constructed for Chhath Puja. The minister has directed the departments concerned to start providing facilities like tents at all ghats from tomorrow,” a senior government official said.

The official said that a monitoring committee has also been constituted to look after preparations of Chhath ghats. Delhi has around 40 lakh ‘Poorvanchali’ voters, hailing from eatsern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, who play a key role in elections.

Earlier this year, the Aam Aadmi Party government had made a special financial provision in the 2017-18 Budget for setting up sufficient numbers of Chhath ghats across the city.

The BJP urged Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to “rise above party politics” and call a high-level meeting for making arrangements for next week’s Chhath puja.

“Kejriwal government should call a high level meeting for making arrangements for Chhat Puja,” Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit chief Manoj Tiwari said after a meeting with the BJP Poorvanchal Morcha to draw attention on the “negligence” of the AAP government in solving problems faced in Chhath Puja for the last few years.

Mr Tiwari also directed the Municipal Corporations to fully cooperate in making arrangements for Chhat puja. “Lakhs of Poorvanchali settled in the city observe Chhat puja every year and Delhi government should rise above party politics and understand the sentiments of the people,” the BJP leader said.