Deputy Commissioner Suraj Kumar on Tuesday inspected various Chhath Ghats to ensure peaceful celebration of the festival. He inspected ghats under Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) and Mango Notified Area Committee ( MNAC) near Mango bridge and Marine Drive.
Necessary directions were given to the concerned officials and Tata Steel UISL present on the spot. Kumar said that in view of prevention of corona infection, the officials should follow the guidelines issued by the state government regarding the festival in letter and spirit.
He also appealed to the devotees to cooperate with the district administration by following the guidelines. Guidelines for devotees in view of prevention of corona infection they must use masks in public places/Chhath Ghats. They must follow the rules of social distance of 6 feet (two yards) on Chhath Ghats. They will not burst crackers in public places, Chhath Ghats.
Chhath, celebrated six days after Diwali, is dedicated to the sun god. During the festival, married women observe a fast for 36 hours and devotees offer wheat, milk, sugar cane, bananas and coconuts to the sun. In Jamshedpur alone, hundreds of roadside vendors, mostly poor men and women, sold these items. “Bamboo baskets in different shapes, locally known as soop, tokri are being used by devotees,” Devi said.
Another devotee, dressed in a new cotton sari, said: “We first took a bath to clean ourselves before preparing food to mark the beginning of the Chhath festival.” She said the age-old “ritual of Nahai-Khai — preparing of traditional food — is a symbol of purity and strict discipline during the next phase of the festival”.
A devotee is a Rs vartiRs - the one who performs the Chhath prayers and follows other rituals. It is a festival associated with faith, purity and devotion to the Sun god. Colourful idols of the Sun god riding his chariot with seven horses, a new attraction this year, were sold on riverbanks, which were cleaned up and decorated by the devotees.
The administration along with dozens of voluntary organisations worked round-the-clock to clean the roads leading up to the banks of rivers and water bodies. District authorities have declared Rs ghatsRs in the city unsafe and dangerous.
Meanwhile the district traffic police have banned the entry of heavy vehicles from 12 midnight today to 9 am tomorrow.
Three passengers test positive
Jamshedpur: With three passengers testing positive in the last three days at Tatanagar railway station, East Singhbhum district administration has sounded an alert at the station premises.
The administration has asked Chakradharpur railway division to provide railway cops for carrying out Covid-19 tests of incoming passengers. East Singhbhum deputy commissioner, Suraj Kumar has written to DRM, Chakradharpur, VK Sahu. One passenger has been testing positive in each of the past three consecutive days.
“Learning a lesson from the past after the festive season, the district health department is leaving no stone unturned this time ahead of the festive season. These efforts are to ensure that the pandemic doesn’t begin spreading again during the festive season. Moreover, in view of Chhath a lot of passengers are arriving in their hometown. We have increased the vigil. The passengers coming from various cities are randomly picked and checked,” said an official.
He said the status of Covid positive cases in the district is well under control as the number of the new cases is in single digit. However, if the incoming passengers continue to come to the city getting infected from other states, then it may pose a threat. Following the orders, RPF and also from the government railway police have started making the passengers undergo Covid test at the station platform.