Gopal Rai takes stock of Chhath Puja preparations across city

NEW DELHI: With barely three days left for Chhath Puja, Delhi Development Minister Gopal Rai on Monday inspected Shyam Ghat, Jagatpur Village and Wazirabad in north east Delhi and took stock of preparations for the massive festival.

According to the Delhi government, 565 ghats are being set up along the banks of River Yamuna to observe Chhath Puja, a major festival of people from Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.

The Delhi Development minister, accompanied by senior officers of the Irrigation and Flood Control department, inspected all provisions at the camps set up at the ghats, such as health facilities, toilets, lighting and drinking water etc

"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 added that a monitoring committee has also been constituted to look after preparations of Chhath ghats.

Delhi has around 40 lakh residents of 'Poorvanchali' background, who hail from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and are a major electorate during polls.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari on Monday constituted a team to help the Chhath Pooja samitees, which he said are aimed at helping solving administrative and other problems related to putting up tents and arranging for offerings to the Sun God.

Tiwari said that the team will be led by BJP Poorvanchal Morcha president Manish Singh.

The Chhath Pooja samitees can get necessary help from the BJP team by contacting them at 9711496114.

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