Heaps of garbage greet visitors at Adalatganj Ghat in Patna on Monday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

The committees set up to look into the condition of Chhath ghats in Patna submitted their detail reports on Monday.

A meeting headed by Patna district magistrate Manish Kumar Verma had on September 6 decided to set up the committees to take stock of the ghats. Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaaj and Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) chairman Kuldip Narayan attended the meet.

“All 18 committees submitted their reports regarding condition of Chhath ghats today. However, details of the reports have not been discussed yet. I have given instructions to chalk out a detailed plan by which district administration can make arrangements regarding Chhath festival as far as ghats are concerned,” Verma said.

The district magistrate formed the 18 committees, consisting of four members each and headed by an additional district magistrate-rank official, for the important ghats and senior deputy collector-level officer for the other ghats.

Asked about the kind of the information the committees were instructed to mention in the report, Verma said: “The committees were directed to inspect the depth of water at the ghats, the condition of approach road connecting the main road and the estimate of stairs that have been damaged so that funds can be sanctioned accordingly for repair work. The committees were also asked to suggest the budget for cleaning, lighting up and spraying disinfectants at the ghats.”

The committees were also asked to suggest points for installing CCTV cameras at the ghats.

Asked about further steps to be taken by the district administration after submission of report by the committees, Verma said: “Another meeting will take place tomorrow (Tuesday) in which urban development department secretary Sandeep Poundrik will also be present along with officials of PMC and Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCo). The committee reports would be discussed in detail and after that an integrated action plan would be prepared to complete work in a stipulated time frame.”

Alarmed at the shoddy performance of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) in handling civic issues, the Patna district administration has already urged the urban development department to hand over the Chhath ghat preparation work to BUIDCo. The department had given permission for the same.

According to Patna collectorate sources, the committees’ reports have stressed on the number of divers and boats that should be deployed at all important ghats. Special attention has been given on the security point of view.

“To maintain law and order and to control crowd, we have suggested construction of watch towers, adequate space for parking and proper barricading for traffic control. It is very important to ensure the quality of the construction related to Chhath. The district administration was at the receiving end of public wrath when stampedes took place at Adalatganj ghat after a bamboo bridge collapsed in 2012,” said an additional district magistrate, who was part of the committee, on condition of anonymity.