The clubs in and around Rabindra Sarobar will remain shut on Monday and partially on Tuesday to ensure no one enters south Calcutta’s largest park with a water body and performs Chhath rituals.
This year, Chhath Puja will be celebrated in Calcutta on Monday evening and Tuesday morning.
The Sarobar, or Dhakuria Lake, will remain closed between 10am on Sunday and 7pm on Tuesday, said an official of the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority, the custodian of the 192-acre water body.
Even morning walkers or other visitors will not be allowed entry.
There are six clubs around the Sarobar — ILSS or the Anderson Club, Calcutta Sports Association, Lake Friends, Bengal Rowing Club, Lake Club and Calcutta Rowing Club.
To get to the first three, one must enter through the gates of the Sarobar. The remaining three are on the banks of the lake, but the entry is not through the Sarobar gates.
The KMDA official said emails have been sent to the six clubs.
“ILSS, Calcutta Sports Association and Lake Friends have been told to remain closed on Monday and till 7pm on Tuesday. We have asked the other three clubs not to give access to outsiders on the Chhath days,” said an official of KMDA.
Calcutta Rowing Club has issued a notice saying that the “club will remain closed on Monday (full day) to 10.30am on Tuesday due to Chhath Puja, as instructed by KMDA”.
The club services will reopen from 11am on Tuesday, said Chandan Roy Choudhury, secretary of CRC.
Bengal Rowing Club will remain closed on Monday and reopen at 8am on Tuesday, said an official.
Lake Club will remain shut on both Monday and Tuesday. “The Tuesday closure is not linked to Chhath. We have some pending repair work that will be done on these two days,” said Debabrata Datta, joint secretary of Lake
Club.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has prohibited Chhath rituals at Rabindra Sarobar and Subhas Sarobar, off Beleghata in the city’s northeast.
In 2018, thousands of worshippers performed the Chhath rituals in the Rabindra Sarobar and Subhas Sarobar premises, violating prohibitory orders.
The KMDA, under the urban development department, maintains the water bodies at Rabindra Sarobar and Subhas Sarobar.
Beginning Sunday night, separate police teams were deployed outside Rabindra Sarobar and Subhas Sarobar.
Some 140 ghats, makeshift and permanent, in Calcutta, 51 in Howrah and one in
New Town have been earmarked for Chhath rituals this year.