Delhiites celebrate Chhath Puja
Even as several thousand devotees thronged nearly 40 ghats along the Yamuna river to celebrate Chhath Puja on Friday, there were also many who celebrated the puja while standing in artificial and makeshift water bodies in various localities of the city. The fact that the river itself is far away from their homes and also that its water is not clean seemed to have forced them to celebrate the festival “indoors”.
Uday Kumar Manna of Magadh Vikas Samiti, which organises chhath puja in the Roshan Vihar-2 area of Najafgarh said that the colony residents have been celebrating Chhath Puja by creating a pond in a vacant plot of land every year. “We have been doing it for the last four years and several influential people of the area come to attend the festival,” said Mr Manna.
In a west Delhi locality, the local leaders got a swimming pool constructed, which was to be first used for Chhath Puja and then converted into a pool for children.
A large number of devotees also thronged India Gate, where they offered the “arghya” to the setting sun, while standing in the ponds.
The government had made arrangements on at least 40 ghats along Yamuna and had also requested Haryana to release more water in Yamuna so that there is adequate and cleaner water for the devotees.
According to the traffic police, the traffic was heavy during the evening hours at New Ashok Nagar-Kondli stretch, Ashram-Badarpur route, Wazirabad road and ISBT-Burari. “There was no jams but the traffic was quite heavy due to the rush of devotees. It began clearing up within a couple of hours and by 9 pm, the traffic movement had become normal,” the police said.
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