All set for Chhath Puja celebrations in Dwarka

Special ghats are being prepared at various places in Delhi on war footing to meet the deadline of the Chhath Pooja. Chhath Puja is one of the most popular religious celebrations in the National Capital where a large number of people from Poorvanchal live.

Chhath Puja scheduled to be held this weekend. Local administration, the city government, community and social organisations etc. are busy in making the Chhath Ghaats to facilitate devotees to conduct the rituals, which are part of the festival.

The worship of sun, which is at the core of te celebrations, will be held in the evening of November 2 and early morning on November 3. At Sector 11, Dwarka, the Chhath Puja is being organised on largescale by the Dwarka Religious, Social and Cultural Association. The construction of the ghats are at final stage. The organisers say by tomorrow all the work would be complete.

President of the association, Robin Sharma said,"As our celebration has become very popular in view of the increasing number of devotees we have increased the number of ghaats to 25 this year from last year's 21. The entire area is being covered with carpet so that people can sit they way they do at the ghaats in our villages.”

Besides, he informed there is first-aid and other medical facilities to meet any eventuality at the ghaats, he said adding, “This year, we are making a traditional havan bhavan to perform rituals." The centre of attraction this year would be the Sun Temple replica of Konark.

“This festival is a commemoration of Sun God and hence we are making a replica of Sun Temple of Konark. This would give a realistic touch to the religious tradition,” he explained.

At Sector 11, water in the ghaat would be used to water plants in parks after the worship . “We have decided to use every single drop of water we use here. Hence, we have arranged tankers to send the water from the ghaat, after puja, to green areas and parks to water plants and trees. This way we are trying to spread the message to save water through our puja.”

Across the city at many places the numbers of ghaats has been increased and the arrangements have been upgraded by the organisations associated with the puja with the help of the authorities. Dada Dev Mela Ground Chhath Ghat, Sector 8 DDA park Chhath Ghat, Sector 11 Chhath Ghat, Dwarka Dabri Chhath Ghaat, Nasirpur Chhath Ghaat, Chhath Puja Ghaat, Durga Park West Delhi re some of the biggest venues for the celebration of the festival in Dwarka and its surrounding areas in West Delhi where thousands of people worship Sun God together.

Mukesh Singh, who is a patron of Sector 11 Chhath Puja organised by Dwarka Religious Social and Cultural Association and also of another big Chhath puja at Dwarka 's Sector 8 and Dada Dev mela ground of Dwarka Palam Chhath Puja Samiti, said, “Here the festival is taking a shape of mass celebration with the passage of time.”

Every year, the number of people is increasing and so the authorities are very much concerned about providing facilities for the festival. You can see the increased number of ghaats at Sector 11 and Sector 8. Seeing a bigger celebration year after year the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had named Sector 8 park as Chhath Park.

“We also are doing our best to organise and manage the celebration, said Mukesh Singh. “We have cleaned and maintained the ghaat and have arranged free raw cow milk and Gangajal and also priests for the arghya for the evening and morning both. Several arrangements have been made for the devotees so that they could get a perfect religious atmosphere.”

There are various societies where puja is being organised inside premises sponsored by RWAs and by groups of people from poorvanchal. At some of the societies, devotees are offering puja on the terrace in artificial water tanks. At Radhika apartments of Sector 14, the puja is being organised by Radhika Chhath Pooj Samiti. A ghaat has been made in the temple premises. According to the organising committees of the area, people from other communities have also started celebratiing the festival in a very religious way like the people of UP and Bihar.