Dhanbad: The historical Raja Talab of Jharia in Dhanbad where devotees offer arghya during Chhath is a dumping ground of sewage and is crying for a clean-up days ahead of the festival.

The half-hearted dredging in 2016 has also opened up drowning risks for devotees due to uneven depths.

Dug during the reign of Jharia estate's late king Durga Prassad Singh in the early 1920s and once an insignia of the opulence of the richest estate under Calcutta presidency during the Raj, the pond today is the venue of choice for draining human and animal excreta originating at two dozen toilets at illegal hutments and equal number of cow sheds on its banks.

This is despite the fact that, like generations before them, devotees are expected to take the holy dip in the pond on Chhath on October 25 this year as well.

The state government has been sitting on a Rs 10 crore facelift project proposed by Dhanbad Municipal Corporation in June this year.

Dhanbad mayor Chandrashekhar Agarwal said, "We will be carrying out a massive beautification the pond as soon we get the clearance of the plan from state government as the project is related to 14 th Finance Commission."

Expressing, disgust, former ward 37 councillor Aunp Sao said, "We request the district administration and civic authorities to barricade dangerous areas of the pond where the depth is more. We also demand putting up indication boards warning people against venturing into such areas."

Echoing Sao's sentiments, Jharia Chamber of Commerce president Amit Sahu, also a member of Raja Talab Nigrani Samiti led by Jharia estate family member Madhavi Singh said, "The toilet construction for the people living in illegal huts on the eastern bank of the pond had been approved in a hurry by DMC to declare all its wards ODF in gross disregard of the fact that the pond is used to perform puja during the Chhath festival."

Jharia circle officer Kedar Nath Singh who holds the charge of DMC commissioner said, "We had barricaded the high depth side last year also and will carry out the same this year," and added that intensive cleaning of the pond is "going on."

The first round of cleaning of the pond spread over 8.46 acres had been carried out ahead of Diwali during which hyacinth in the water body was removed. A second round of cleaning will begin on Tuesday to takeout the idol frames and other puja paraphernalia after the immersion of Kali idols.