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Patna,(BiharTimes): Old habits die hard. Though the Patna district administration declared 23 ghats as dangerous a large number of devotees risk their lives to perform arghya in some of them.
In fact they even made a beeline to Collectorate Ghat, Bankipore Ghat, Anta Ghat and B N College Ghat but were prevented from performing ritual by the policemen. But that was not the case with the ghats situated in far away Danapur and Patna City sub-divisions of the district. There was no police nor any board declaring them dangerous.
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They performed the rituals at Jhauganj Ghat under Patna City sub-division, and Nariyal Ghat, Chaitola Ghat and Naasirganj Ghat under Danapur sub-division. In the absence of any police they had a free access during the entire Chhath. However, they were lucky as nothing untoward happened.
The problem with the district administration’s announcement is that a large number of devotees, especially women, were ignorant about it. As a large number of people return to their home town, Patna, to perform Chhath just on the final day they were not actually aware of the last minute announcement by the district administration.
Reports said that devotees jostled for space at Jhauganj Ghat, where the approach path to the river was slippery and the water level was deep. A temporary pond was dug up at the bank ahead of the festival but it had no water.
Devotees said that though the administration had promised to provide a pond as an alternative at the dangerous ghats yet the pond here does not have any water. So, they were forced to go to the river.
What is shocking is that even district magistrate of Patna, Sanjay Kumar Singh, was not aware that devotees have thronged dangerous ghats in such a large number. He conceded this while talking to a section of media.
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