Following the State Government’s decision of allowing Arghya at public water bodies during Chhath festival, the Ranchi district administration has started preparing a roadmap to ensure adherence to Covid norms during the festivities and encourage devotees to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour even while they are engrossed in the puja rituals.
Ranchi Sub Divisional Officer Deepak Dubey on Saturday said that the district administration will hold a meeting with the various Chhath committees soon and ask them to play messages about following Covid-appropriate behaviour on loudspeakers during the festival. The district administration, he added, will also deploy magistrates at the Chhath ghats to make sure that Covid norms are followed.
“We will deploy magistrates at the Chhath ghats to ensure adherence to Covid-19 norms by the devotees and visitors,” said Dubey.
Thousands of devotees visit water bodies across Ranchi during Chhath and offer Arghya, a holy ritual of offering water to the Sun god. The Chhath ghats are usually overcrowded during the festival, which is likely to make it difficult for the administration to maintain social distancing, sources said. This year, Chhath will be celebrated on November 10 across the country.
Meanwhile, the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) has started cleaning the various Chhath ghats across the city prior to the festival. Ranchi Mayor Asha Lakra recently inspected some of the popular Chhath ghats in the city and directed officials to ensure that all the water bodies were cleaned before devotees take a dip into the water to offer prayers on the day of Chhath.
Last year, the government disallowed Chhath festivities at public water bodies owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though such restrictions have been lifted this year, many devotees have still decided to perform Chhath rituals at the safety of their homes or apartment complexes.
Besides preparing a foolproof plan for deployment of security forces and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel at all the Chhath ghats in Ranchi, the district administration has also planned traffic routes in a bid to avoid traffic congestion on the roads leading to various Chhath ghats here.
Amarnath Sarkar, one of the members of a Chhath management committee in Ranchi, suggested that the district administration should put up barricades at the ghats to ensure social distance among the devotees. “If we have barricades at the ghats, then devotees won’t come too close to each other while offering Arghya,” he said.