Thousands gather at Yamuna ghats for Chhath Puja

NEWDELHI:THOUSANDS of Delhi residents gathered at 1,100-odd ghats to celebrate Chhath Puja on Saturday evening.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal attended the puja at Bajrangi ghat in the Yamuna riverbed in north Delhi’s Burari neighbourhood. He said, “Delhi now has close to 1,200 Chhath ghats against only 73 that existed till last year. The coming years will see more number of concretised Chhath ghats.”

Chhath Puja is a major festival in Bihar and eastern UP. Migrants from these states are referred to as Purvanchalis in Delhi and political parties estimate that they form around 30% of Delhi’s voting population. The four-day Chhath festival began on Thursday and on the last two days, devotees perform rituals and offer evening and morning ‘arghyas’ (offerings) to the Sun god by taking a dip in a river .

Scores of political leaders belonging to AAP, Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress joined devotees on different ghats on Saturday evening.

Traffic was thrown out of gear on Saturday evening in several parts, including Kashmere Gate, ITO junction, Mayur Vihar, the Yamuna Pushta stretch, Sarai Kale Khan and Ashram chowk, traffic officials said. By late evening, Traffic Police blocked a few stretches and diverted routes in vicinity of 43 major ghats, which include Sonia Vihar, ITO Bridge, Kudesiya Ghat, Ramghat, Shyamghat, Shiv Ghat, Lohia Pul, Shiv Ghat, Sarai Kale Khan, Hathi Ghat and Mahavir Enclave and Haiderpur Canal.