Delhi Development Minister Gopal Rai inspects Chhath Puja ghats

NEW DELHI: With barely four days left for Chhath Puja, Delhi Development Minister Gopal Rai on Friday inspected a Yamuna ghat in North Delhi and took stock of preparations for the festival. According to the government, 1,000 ghats are being set up along the banks of river Yamuna for Chhath Puja, a major festival of people from Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.

The AAP government had set up 565 ghats last year but this year 1,000 ghats are being set up. The Chhat Puja will be celebrated on 13 November.

The development minister was accompanied by senior officers of irrigation and flood control department, Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha and Chairman of Delhi Religious Committee Kamal Bansal. The minister inspected the ITO Chhat Ghat and Kudesia Ghat at Kashmari Gate. The minister has directed the departments concerned to start providing facilities like tents at all ghats from tomorrow,” a senior government official said.

The official said that a monitoring committee has also been constituted to look after the preparations of Chhath ghats. Delhi has around 40 lakh ‘Poorvanchali’ voters, hailing from eatsern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, who play a key role in elections. Earlier this year, the AAP government had made a special financial provision in the 2017-18 Budget for setting up sufficient numbers of Chhath ghats across the city.