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Kolkata, Oct 27 (PTI) Thousands of devotees offered prayers to the Sun God at ghats along rivers and other waterbodies across Kolkata on Monday evening as part of the ‘Sandhya Arghya’ (evening offering) rituals of the four-day Chhath festival. Devotees will again assemble at the ghats early Tuesday to offer ‘Usha Arghya’ (morning offering) to the rising sun, marking the conclusion of the festival that symbolises devotion, gratitude and purity. A Kolkata Municipal Corporation official said devotees offered prayers and puja at 188 ghats around waterbodies in the city before sunset. While 149 ghats are maintained by the KMC, 39 were being maintained by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Area. The civic body also created six temporary ghats to prevent overcrowding at major locations. Devotees thronged Doi Ghat, Bagbazar, Nimtala, Babughat, Rani Rashmoni Ghat and several other sites in south and east Kolkata. The KMDA closed the gates of Rabindra Sarobar and Subhas Sarobar lakes from 10 am on October 26 to noon on October 28 to prevent access for rituals, bursting of crackers or playing of loud music in order to protect the ecosystem and biodiversity of the lakes in compliance with National Green Tribunal (NGT) directives. Kolkata Police commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma issued traffic restrictions along certain roads from noon to 10 pm on Monday and from 3 am to 10 am on Tuesday to ensure smooth movement. Apart from people hailing from Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh, Hindu communities from other states also participated in the festival. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in a post on X wished people on the occasion of Chhath. A West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) official said the city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) remained between the ‘moderate’ and ‘satisfactory’ categories during the evening rituals. The AQI recorded 153 (PM2.5) at Victoria (moderate), 168 at Jadavpur (moderate), 100 at Ballygunge (satisfactory), 89 at Fort William (satisfactory), 93 at Rabindra Bharati University (satisfactory), 82 at Bidhannagar (satisfactory) and 74 at Rabindra Sarobar (satisfactory), the official said. Environmentalists, however, expressed concern that the early morning hours during Tuesday’s ‘Usha Arghya’ were crucial, as reports of green cracker violations have been observed in previous years despite the WBPCB’s two-hour permissible window. PTI SUS MNB
