Kolkata: The festival celebrations continue in the city as people observed Chhath Puja on Sunday evening at ghats along the Hooghly River. The four-day festival will end on Monday after devotees offer prayer at dawn for the rising sun.
Chhath Puja is a celebration in honour of the sun that involves a long fast without water. Devotees offer prayer to the light of the rising and setting Sun while standing in a waterbody.
Devotees who do not have access to a waterbody observe the ritual by building a temporary pool in their homes. Seasonal fruits like sweet potato, water chestnuts and bananas are offered to the Gods.
More than 150 ghats have been prepared for the Chhath Puja rituals by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). Out of the 150 ghats, 16 are along the Hooghly River.
Restrictions have been placed by the Calcutta High Court on bursting of only green crackers between 6 am and 8 am on Monday morning.
Kolkata Police will deploy around 4000 police personnel across the city, including 250 police personnel for each of the lakes to ensure that people do not force their way into lake premises to perform Chhath Puja.
According to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order, performing rituals of Chhath Puja in closed water bodies is strictly prohibited to keep them pollution-free.
Adequate police arrangements have been made for the ghats of Hooghly River as well. Disaster Management Group (DMG) teams will be deployed in each of the ghats while the River Traffic Patrol will keep a close eye from the water. Furthermore, deployed personnel have been asked to prevent the use of DJ boxes and bursting of banned firecrackers.
The Sealdah Division has regulated circular railway trains from 9 am on Sunday to 3 pm on November 20. This was done to ensure the safety of the devotees. On Sunday, four circular railway locals were cancelled.
A Sealdah-Baruipur Special was plied from Sealdah at 7:10 pm. Two Circular Railway locals were cancelled on Monday.