About 50 ghats will be made ready in south and east Kolkata for Chhath Puja rituals, officials of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) said.
Ghats along the Hooghly will also be open for devotees, said a KMC official.
No Chhath rituals will be allowed on the premises of Rabindra Sarobar and Subhas Sarobar. A senior official of the KMDA, the custodian of these two lakes, said the premises would remain closed on October 30 and till noon of October 31.
Chhath rituals will be performed at dusk on October 30 and again at dawn on October 31.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has banned all religious rituals on the Rabindra Sarobar premises to prevent pollution of the water body.
Thousands of devotees had performed Chhath rituals at Rabindra Sarobar in 2018, violating the NGT order. They broke open the gates to enter the compound and the administration allegedly did not try to stop them.
The order was not violated in the last three years.
“Rabindra Sarobar and Subhas Sarobar will remain closed between midnight on October 29 and noon on October 31. We are preparing 47 ghats where devotees can perform the rituals,” said the KMDA official.
Some of the places where the rituals can be performed are ghats near Fortis Hospital in Anandapur, at the Jodhpur Park lake, and in Bikramgarh, Regent Park, Golf Garden, Kasba, Dhakuria and Tollygunge, among other places.
Most of the ghats are in south and east Kolkata, from where devotees find it difficult to reach the Hooghly to perform the rituals.
Most of devotees who visit the Hooghly ghats to perform the rituals are from north and central Kolkata. For them reaching the ghats along the river is easier.
The KMC will build nine temporary water bodies for devotees to perform the rituals, said an official.
“We will erect walls and fill the space inside with water. Once the Chhath Puja is over, these temporary water bodies will be demolished,” said the KMC official.
The KMC and the KMDA will create enclosures where devotees can change clothes before and after performing the rituals and will also arrange for mobile toilets at those locations.
“We will distribute leaflets to publicise the locations of the ghats where the rituals can be performed,” said a KMC official.
