Chhath preparations have kicked off in Hazaribagh with the municipal board pressing labourers into service to clean water reservoirs of the town.

Cleaning work started on Tuesday with Hazaribagh Lake and Chhath Talab, where hundreds of devotees go to offer arghya to the sun god during the festival.

Many have chosen not to depend on the civic authorities and instead brought their own workers to spruce up the ghats and mark areas as their own by writing down their names with lime. This way, they don’t have to fight for space on the crowded banks .

“This system of earmarking slots at the ghats has been in existence since long. It’s an unwritten rule here. Once someone books a place and writes down his name, no one else can grab it. I have also written my father’s name to book space, which will be exclusively ours when the festival starts on November 16,” said a student, Rohit Kumar.

Arun Kumar Mishra, a local businessman, added that the rush to “book” a place at Hazaribagh Lake starts right after Durga Puja. “I am seeing this practice for the last two decades,” he added.

At Chhath talab situated near Indrapuri Chowk, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has begun erecting a boundary wall. Sources said that NTPC took up the beautification project of the pond on the request of Hazaribagh MP Yashwant Sinha. The corporation will make arrangements for light and construct eight gates once the boundary wall around the pond, spread over two acres, is ready.

Acting chairman of Hazaribagh Municipal Board Manish Jaiswal, however, has requested NTPC to complete work before Chhath for convenience of vratis.