Just three of five ghats along the Ganga in Munger are available for performing Chhath this year. The district administration has declared Kanker and Sahni Tola ghats as dangerous.

These ghats were badly damaged during the floods and chances of mishap cannot be ruled out. So the available options are Kastharni ghat, Babua ghat and Sojhi ghat.

"Apart from sanitation-related work and lighting of ghats, steps have also been taken for the safety of devotees," Munger district magistrate Uday Kumar Singh said. Giving more details, he said: "The river was being barricaded so that devotees do not enter deep into the water. Temporary watch towers are being set up to keep an eye on the crowds and security personnel are being deployed at the ghats and on the roads leading to these places."

The Munger civic body has drafted around 300 sanitation staff to clean the ghats and these personnel have been put on work since November 2 so that ghats are usable by November 4 when Chhath rituals start with Nahay Khay.

A team of 20 state disaster response force personnel would patrol the river on November 6 and 7 to keep a tab on devotees and to help in case there's a mishap.

The district administration has also decided to install CCTV cameras at Chhath ghats to keep an eye on the crowd and take quick action if needed, Munger superintendent of police (SP) Ashish Bharti said.

Devotees, however, are not very optimistic about the claims being made by the district administration. "Our past experience has not been very good. The claims of the officials would be tested once devotees start visiting these ghats from November 4," said Abhilasha Devi, a resident who performs Chhath.

Muzaffarpur ghats

The Muzaffarpur district administration on Thursday declared the Chandwara and Siddhi ghats - along the Budhi Gandak - as dangerous and asked the devotees not to visit these places to perform Chhath rituals. Sub-divisional officer (East) Sunil Kumar said that condition of both these ghats was not good and marshy land along the riverbank at these two spots could cause mishap. District magistrate Dharmendra Kumar has directed field officials to barricade these ghats so that devotees cannot use them. The district administration has decided to ready two alternative ghats near Rameshwar Singh College and Sikandarpur stadium to address the needs of those who were earlier planning to visit the ghats that have now been declared dangerous.

(Additional reporting by Khwaja in Muzaffarpur)