DDMA meeting today, will reconsider ban on Chhath Puja celebrations in Delhi

Chhath is celebrated after Diwali by people from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh and the ritual involves the offering of 'Arghya' by fasting women to the Sun god in knee-deep water.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will hold a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) situation in the national capital. It is also expected to reconsider the ban imposed on Chhath Puja celebrations at public places.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority had on September 30 banned any gathering on the occasion of Chhath Puja. (Photo: Sanchit Khanna/HT)

The Chhath Puja celebrations were banned by the DDMA in public, including at Yamuna riverbanks, water bodies and temples in Delhi, after a meeting on September 30. But since then, the Covid-19 situation has improved a lot in the national capital and demands have been made by various groups and political parties to allow Chhath Puja to be celebrated.

It is a major festival celebrated by those in East Uttar Pradesh and Bihar (Purvanchali community). The community has sizeable number in the national capital and are concentrated mostly in East Delhi.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Delhi, including party MP Manoj Tiwari, had attacked the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government over the ban and asked it to send a proposal to the DDMA for allowing the celebration of the festival at public places in Delhi.

Tiwari, who is the BJP's Purvanchal face in the national capital, has been advocating for allowing public celebrations for Chhath Puja in Delhi ever since DDMA put a ban on it while allowing Dussehra, Ramlila and Durga Puja celebrations in the city.

In the backdrop of protests by the BJP and Congress against the Chhath Puja ban, Kejriwal had earlier this month urged Lt Governor Anil Baijal to call a meeting of the DDMA as soon as possible to allow celebrations in public, saying the Covid situation in Delhi was under control.

Baijal then directed the chief secretary to convene a meeting of the DDMA to discuss the issue.

Chhath is celebrated after Diwali by people from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh and the ritual involves the offering of 'Arghya' by fasting women to the Sun god in knee-deep water.