PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, Oct 26: Civic bodies – Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee ( JNAC ) and Mango Notified Area Committee ( MNAC ) began cleanliness operation of various river ghats as a run-up to Chhath festival.
Chhath, the biggest festival of Jharkhand will be celebrated on November 10 and 11, this year.
Both the civic bodies deployed workers to clean the banks of rivers Subernarekha and Kharkai, so that the festival could be celebrated without any hurdles.
Zilla Parishad member Rajkumar Singh this morning went around various Chhath ghats on the banks of river Kharkai.
He also inspected a couple of artificial ponds at Parsudih and its adjoining areas taking stock of cleanliness.
During the inspection which began at 8 am the Zilla Parishad member gave necessary directives for cleanliness of ghats in next one week.
The four – day Chhath festival would begin on November 8 while the sandhya arghya and bihaniya arghya will be offered on November 10 and 11 respectively.
Yesterday, state health minister Banna Gupta had inspected the Subernarekha Ghat in Sakchi, the biggest river ghat which draws the maximum number of Chhath vratis during the two day festival.
Several ghats in and around steel city including Subernarekha Ghat at Sakchi, Kapali in Mango, Domuhani in Sonari, Pandey in Bhuiyandih, Bhuiyandih ghat Bodhanwala ghat in Bistupur and Baroda ghat at Bagbera draw thousands of devotees who pay obeisance to the Sun God during the festival
Tata Steel subsidiary, Jusco also plays a major role in ensuring cleanliness of river ghats and providing other support for the smooth conduct of the festival.
Apart from cleanliness of river ghats it provides streetlights and halogen lights on the river banks for the convenience of the devotees.
Chhath would also be celebrated on the premises of the sprawling Surya Mandir at Sidhgora, which has two artificial ponds and C2 pond, an artificial water body maintained by Indian steel and Wire Products ( IS&WP ) near Telco.