Chhath Puja: CS holds preparedness meet, stresses on security, communal harmony

Kolkata: Chief secretary Manoj Pant, on Saturday, held a meeting to assess preparedness for the Chhath Puja and cautioned against attempts by a section of people to disturb communal harmony. He directed the police to be prepared to thwart any such attempt and state Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar assured him of all possible measures. State Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim who is also the Mayor of Kolkata; Sujit Bose, state Fire and Emergency Services minister, Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma among others were present in the meeting with all district magistrates and police superintendents attending virtually.

Pant advocated for adequate security and lighting arrangements at the ghats. He directed to keep the ghats clean and pollution-free to the best extent possible. He further issued directions for cleaning the ghats after observing the rituals of Chhath Puja. Hakim pointed out that KMC will soon come up with a guideline on Chhath Puja and asked all stake-holders to follow the same. In Kolkata, Rabindra Sarobar and Subhas Sarobar will be kept out of bounds for curbing pollution as per orders of the green tribunal with KMC and Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority readying several alternative ghats for observing Chhath rituals.