CM, PWD Minister take boat ride to review Chhath Puja preparations 

 New Delhi

Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, along with Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh and senior officials, on Saturday took a boat ride in the Yamuna river to review preparations for the Chhath Puja festival later this month.

Ms. Gupta announced that ghats will be constructed at every habitation along the Yamuna river from Palla to ITO to allow devotees to worship closer to their homes. She added that hundreds of ghats are being developed across Delhi to make the festival more accessible.

“Chhath Puja this year will be organised in a grander, safer and more convenient manner than ever before. It is not just a festival, it is a symbol of women’s devotion and our respect for nature. The Delhi government is committed to celebrating it with full dignity and grandeur,” the CM said.

She added that cultural programmes will also be held to infuse the four-day festival with devotion, tradition, and community enthusiasm.

Highlighting the festival’s ecological significance, the Chief Minister said, “Chhath also gives the message of keeping our water sources clean and alive. Every arrangement of security, cleanliness, lighting, and traffic management will be handled carefully so that devotees face no inconvenience,” Ms. Gupta said.

Festival and politics

The CM alleged that the previous governments and administrations had failed to take the festival seriously. Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party claimed that when it was in power earlier, it had repeatedly written to the Lieutenant-Governor seeking permission to allow celebrations on the Yamuna, but its requests were denied.

Chhath Puja, dedicated to the Sun God, is celebrated predominantly by Purvanchalis, people from eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and parts of Jharkhand. The numerically strong community plays a decisive role in the Delhi election, and both the AAP and BJP have sought to woo Purvanchali voters, including in the run-up to the February Assembly polls.

Last year, the AAP government claimed to have set up over 1,000 Chhath ghats in the city. The festival, however, also triggered a political blame game, with both the Congress and the BJP attacking AAP over the state of pollution in the Yamuna