Kumar Rajiv Nayan
Ara : The ghats have not yet been cleaned on the banks of rivers Ganga and Sone in Bhojpur districts for the Chhath festival. The ghats are quite unsafe due to continuous erosion. The devotees will have to walk at least 2km to reach the mainstream of river Ganga this year as the river has changed its course further northwards from its ghats at Sinha and Barhara in the district. Resentment prevails among the people against the apathetic attitude of the authorities.
A social activist Hareram Singh says, “The district administration has not bothered to clean the Chhath Ghats.” As per reports, the ghats at Sinha, Barhara, Jagdishpur, Sahar, Sandesh, Koelwar, and Ara are in very bad shape. On a number of ghats, sand and soil erosion still continues making it unsafe for the devotees particularly under Barhara and Koelwar blocks. The Sone canal flowing through Ara is contaminated as the dirty water flowing from sewage drains of the town fall into it.
A devotee of Jawar Tola Sumitra Devi said, “‘If the administration fails to put bamboo strips or pantoon bridge over the canal, the devotees will face a lot of inconvenience in reaching the other side of the canal.”
The pond at Ara Collectorate where at least 15,000 people perform Chhath every year is yet to be cleaned by the district administration and the filth and garbage are lying there unattended. The district administration encircled the pond. The locals are themselves are cleaning the area and preparing the ghats for the Chhath devotee.
The ghats at Sinha and Barhara have become extremely dangerous due to erosion. At Koelwar, ghats have become dangerous due to use of JCB for sand mining from river Sone creating at least 20 feet to 40 feet deep ditches in the river. Mayor, Ara Municipal Corporation (AMC), Priyam Devi, said that cleaning of ghats and removal of filth and garbage were going on full swing and she and her team were keeping vigil round the clock.
DM, Bhojpur, Sanjeev Kumar claimed elaborate security arrangements have been made for the Chhath to maintain law and order and added that dangerous ghats had been identified and special attention would be given to them. NDRF teams, doctors, magistrates, police force would be deployed and use of crackers at the ghats and ferrying of boats on Chhath day would be completely banned. He said that CCTV cameras would be installed at almost all the ghats.