Sultanganj, July 27: The holy month of Shravan barely three days away, the arrangements are not up to the mark on the banks of the Ganga from where devotees collect water to offer to Lord Shiva in Deoghar, Jharkhand.

Though Shravan starts from July 31, the Bengali calendar states it began on July 18. So, devotees from Bengal have started pouring in and are an unhappy lot.

The Bhagalpur district administration is being blamed for the state of affairs. "No work appears to have been done. The road from Bhagalpur to Sultanganj is broken. Even the river bank is very dangerous," rued Bhubom Dey, a resident of Cooch Behar district in Bengal.

A source in the district administration said everything would be put in order before July 31 when the rush of devotees starts. "Chief minister Nitish Kumar would inaugurate the event. So there is no question of laxity on our part," he said.

During Shravani Mela, lakhs of pilgrims from across the country and the globe embark on the holy journey with the Ganga water from Sultanganj to Deoghar.

Sindhi Ghat in Sultanganj becomes the destination of pilgrims for taking the water. But it is in a precarious condition mainly because of soil getting eroded by the rising water level of the river.

Taking a defensive stance, a junior engineer of the water resources department said: "Lack of proper funding didn't allow proper work. Only during Shravan, some formalities are done but that is not sufficient, given the fact that the water level remains very high in monsoon and it becomes difficult to work."

Bhagalpur sub-divisional officer Kumar Anuj said preparations for the event had been going on a war footing. "We have already conducted anti-encroachment drive to make the mela area free from illegal settlers," he said.

On July 26, inspector-general of police, Bhagalpur range, Bacchu Singh Meena conducted a meeting with the superintendents of police of the districts concerned.

Jamalpur superintendent of railway police Umashanker Prasad held a meeting with Government Railway Police personnel at Bhagalpur on July 25 for the month-long mela. On July 20, senior district officials form Bhagalpur, Munger and Banka took part in an inter-state meeting at Deoghar in Jharkhand for the mela coordination.

"All such formalities by parts of the government are conducted easily but nobody pays proper attention to the work at the ground-level here. And for that reason, the condition of Sindhi Ghat is deteriorating with every passing year," said Anupam Kumar, a resident at Sultanganj.