KMC, police urge devotees to avoid 2 main Chhath venues

Kolkata: Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) has developed infrastructure for seven permanent and 44 temporary ghats in 16 water bodies across the city for the observance of the Chhath Puja rituals. It has been decided that the coordinators of KMC along with Kolkata Police will appeal to the devotees to perform Puja at the ghats in their respective localities and spare Rabindra Sarobar and Subhas Sarobar that are under the glare of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) due to pollution issues. A coordination meeting was chaired by KMDA chairman Firhad Hakim on Friday.

Out of the seven permanent ghats, three have come up at Nonadanga area, three near Fortis Hospital near Kasba – EM Bypass connector and another at Patuli. The temporary ghats have been developed in a manner to ensure that the devotees need not travel far from their respective homes for performing the Chhath Puja.

"We have also appealed to Syama Prasad Mookherjee Port (erstwhile Kolkata Port Trust) authorities to open up a gate leading to the Ganga in Hastings area so that more and more devotees are encouraged to perform rituals in the river," said Hakim. While hearing a case related to banning on firecrackers, the Calcutta High Court on Thursday observed that the state should consider keeping Chhath rituals away from Rabindra Sarobar and Subhas Sarobar. The KMDA had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking permission for Chhath Puja at Rabindra Sarobar and the hearing is due on November 16. Earlier, the KMDA's plea seeking relaxation on the ban of Chhath at the National Green Tribunal was turned down by the green bench.

Mani Prasad Singh, president of Rashtriya Bihari Samaj welcomed the ban on firecrackers and said that they are ready to abide by any sort of restrictions imposed for prevention of pollution while performing the Puja at Rabindra Sarobar.