Gaya, April 7: The water scarcity has become a huge cause of concern for Chaiti Chhath devotees. With riverbed of Falgu and pond dry, devotees are puzzled over how to offer arghya to the sun.

Chaiti Chhath began today and nahay khay followed by kharna would be celebrated on Friday. The evening arghya would be offered on Saturday followed by the morning arghya on Sunday.

Besides Falgu, ponds like Suryakund, Rukmini, Vaitarni and the pond at Pitamaheshwar are some of the other places where devotees offer arghya to the sun. But the water-level of most of them has receded. Thus, preparing big kunds (holes) by removing sand from the dry riverbed of Falgu is the only option. The unkempt Falgu banks are another point of bother for the devotees. They have still not been cleaned. When contacted, Gaya Municipal Corporation city commissioner Dharmesh Thakur said payloaders had been pressed into service to dig kunds on the Falgu riverbed. But there was no trace of water even after digging up to 10ft at Pitamaheshwar Ghat.

“As an alternative arrangement, even the ponds were being cleaned so that devotees could offer arghya. We would discuss the non-availability of water in Falgu with the officials of the departments concerned,” he said.