Gaya, Aug. 18: Pilgrims who are expected to come to town for the Pitripaksh Mela may find themselves in a fix. The district administration is yet to begin preparations for the 17-day-long festival.

Pilgrims come to Gaya every year for the pinddaan ritual. This year, they may have to face open manholes, dilapidated roads, scarcity of water and lack of cleanliness in and around the Vishnupad Temple area if action is not taken by the authorities.

The mela begins on September 11. The priests, known as Gayapal pandas, and social workers, are naturally a worried lot. Today, at a news meet, minister in-charge of Gaya district Shyam Rajak admitted that the roads around Vishnupad temple area were not in a good condition.

“As there is not much time left for fresh construction of roads before the mela, only repair is possible,” he said.

He added that steps are being initiated to ensure the best possible arrangements for the pilgrims. Special emphasis will be on maintaining cleanliness in the whole of Gaya town during the Pitripaksh Mela so that pilgrims go back with a positive view.

To maintain cleanliness, employees will work in four shifts. Separate committees like accommodation, cleanliness, transportation, power, water supply and souvenir have been constituted that have started functioning.

“I will personally visit all the places where the pilgrims offer pinddaan and review the preparations,” Rajak said.

Some pandas and social workers assembled near Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar Smarak under the banner of Vishnupad Regional Development Committee (VRDC) on Tuesday. The office-bearers of VRDC also handed over a memorandum of their nine-point demand to Sadar sub-divisional officer (SDO) Paritosh Kumar.

In the memorandum, they had pointed out the bad condition of roads in the town. VRDC chairman Suresh Narayan has said important roads for communication are in a dilapidated condition.

Chand Chaura to Bodh Gaya bypass near Ghughritand via Mangala Gauri temple and Shahmir Takya to Bodh Gaya bypass near Ghughritand via Mangala Gauri temple are in a dilapidated state.

Narayan has demanded a permanent arrangement system from the state government as pilgrims arrive here throughout the year.

Narayan said: “The district administration is yet to start preparations for the 17-day-long Pitripaksh Mela though pilgrims will start coming to town from September 9 or 10.”

The vice-chairman of the committee, Gajadhar Lal Pathak, said: “The cleaning work is yet to start in and around the mela area, comprising Vishnupad temple, Mangala Gauri, Akshaywat, Chand Chaura and Godawari localities, where pilgrims perform the pinddaan rituals. Two main ghats of river Falgu — Deo Ghat and Gajadhar Ghat — and the ponds, including Suryakund, Brahm Sarovar, Godawari, Vaitarni and Pitamaheshwar, need to be cleaned before the mela starts.”

The condition of the roads is also very bad. Two very important roads used by pilgrims — the stretch from Chand Chaura to Bodhgaya that starts near Ghughritand and goes past Mangala Gauri Temple, and the thoroughfare from Shahmir Takya to Bodhgaya — are in bad condition. Both are filled with potholes.

If not repaired in time, pilgrims will have to brave these stretches. Ironically, even if the administration starts to repair them now, they would not have the time to complete the work in time.

Apart from this, several manholes on roads in and around the mela area have been left uncovered. For example, the roads between Suryakund pond to Panchmahalla, Kamakhya Temple to Suryakund, and the stretch between Upardih to Sarghatti Mor have several open manholes.

Between Upardih and Sarghatti there are at least five open manholes because of which the road has been closed even for pedestrians.

“Among the pilgrims most are senior citizens and open manholes can prove dangerous for them,” Pathak said.

Other demands of the nine-point memorandum submitted to the SDO include proper lighting and water supply arrangements in the mela area, including Karsilli, Upardih, Deo Ghat, Nai Sadak and some important vedis (structures where the pinddaan is performed), including Dhautpad, Mundprishtha, Aadi Gaya, Dakshinkulla, Ghritkulla, Tarak Brahm and others.

Vishnupad Temple Management Committee (VTMC) secretary Vinod Lal Meharwar, other Gayapal pandas, Bachnu Lal Dhokdi and Gajadhar Lal Katariyar, VRDC secretary Sujeet Kumar, Krishna Pathak also expressed their support for the demands.

Additional district magistrate Shoaib Ahmad and Lodging House Committee secretary-cum-officer on special duty (OSD) of Gaya, Santosh Kumar Mall, yesterday visited Vishnupad Temple, Deo Ghat and some other places.

The OSD said the cleaning work in the mela area would start from tomorrow. For other arrangements, separate committees like accommodation, transport, cleanliness, water supply, power supply and souvenir have been constituted and each body has started its work to ensure the preparations.

Rajak also inaugurated an integrated weight management-cum-MIS Solution for public distribution system (PDS) at the collectorate today. This would help in curbing corruption in the PDS. The scheme is being implemented in the Gaya sadar sub-division as a pilot project under integrated action plan for a one-year period initially.