Thousands throng ghats, ponds in Delhi to mark Chhath Puja

The four-day festival will come to a close with the devotees offering water, arghya, to the setting sun on Sunday, and the rising sun on Monday.

Thousands of devotees on Sunday evening thronged the ghats on the Yamuna and water bodies and makeshift ponds across the capital to celebrate Chhath Puja after two years of muted festivities due to Covid-19 pandemic related restrictions.

Devotees gathered to perform Chhath Pooja rituals at an artificial pond created by the Delhi government at Chhath Ghat, ITO, on Sunday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

The four-day festival will come to a close with the devotees offering water, arghya, to the setting sun on Sunday, and the rising sun on Monday.

Sarla Jha (57), a devotee who offered prayers at ITO ghat on Sunday, said for the last two years her family were celebrating Chhath at their Laxmi Nagar house in east Delhi, but since Covid restrictions have been lifted they decided to join community celebrations. The Chhath ghats are decked with flowers, plants, lights and decorative items where devotees with their family members and friends gathered to pray on Sunday evening. The devotees, who are on over 30 hours fast, stood in the water while offering prayers.

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia visited Chhath ghats in Patparganj to take stock of the arrangements and interact with devotees, while BJP MLA and leader of the opposition in Delhi assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri visited the ghats in his constituency Badarpur and interacted with devotees. Several other Aam Aadmi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders visited ghats and ponds across the city to talk to the devotees there.

Sisodia on Sunday said, “The devotees did not face any kind of difficulties. After the formation of the Kejriwal government in Delhi, the celebrations of Chhath Puja have been greatly improved.

Bidhuri said, “This year a large number of people thronged the Chhath ghats to celebrate with the community and there was great enthusiasm.”

Over the last decade, Chhath, a festival celebrated mostly by Purvanchalis, people from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, has gone up both in scale of the festivities and political significance as the population of the people from the region holds sway in several assembly constituencies. Earlier this month, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced that his government will spend Rs35 crore to make preparations for Chhath Puja at 1,100 locations in the city.

Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai said Chhath Puja celebrations under the AAP government has gone up from 69 to 1100 ghats.