Bhagalpur mayor Deepak Bhubania inspects Mushahari Ghat on Friday. Picture by Amit Kumar

Garbage has cast a shadow on Chhath puja celebrations in the town.

Bhagalpur Municipal Corporation has allegedly been dumping garbage collected from the town at Manik Sarkar, Mushahari and other ghats and on the riverbed. This would affect Chhath puja as praying to the Sun God at Ganga ghats is a key ritual of the festival.

Members of several Chhath puja committees — who assist devotees in observing the rituals smoothly — have said it would be difficult to clean the ghats in time for the festival, the biggest in the state.

Members of Sanjeev Smriti Chhath Puja Committee of Manik Sarkar Ghat have washed their hands of the festival. Other committees rue the extra effort they have to put in to clean the ghats, which, they allege, are polluted on orders from the civic body.

Ashok Kumar, a member of the Sanjeev Smriti Chhath Puja Committee, said: “At least 15,000 devotees, including those from distant places like Mirjanhat, use the Manik Sarkar Ghat every year to observe the Chhath puja rituals. This time we have decided to close the ghat because of the garbage dumped there by the corporation. The garbage dumped on the river banks, as well as the river bed, pose a threat to the safety and security of the devotees.”

A tractor driver said influential people in the area have paid Bhagalpur Municipal Corporation officials to dump garbage at the ghat to make approach roads for houses coming up on the river bank.

Mayor Deepak Bhubania during an inspection of the ghats on Friday came down heavily on civic body officials for polluting the riverbanks.

“In spite of my strict instructions, civic body officials did not follow basic norms when dumping garbage. I had recently issued a show cause notice on municipal commissioner Tarani Das and others concerned. I am awaiting their replies, after which proper action would be taken against those responsible,” he said.

The mayor also directed civic officials to undertake a cleanliness drive, on a war footing, at the ghats so that devotees can perform the Chhath rituals without any difficulty.