Bhubaneswar: The civic body organised a cleanliness drive along the Kuakhai river on the city outskirts on Wednesday night to provide a better ambience and cleanliness in the surrounding areas.

The drive, conducted in association with the Kuakhai Chhath Puja Samiti, continued into the morning to crate a better and cleaner space for rituals at the riverbank. "We had put additional sanitation officials on duty. They swept the area at the riverside," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

Besides cleaning along the approach road from the national highway to the riverbank and sprinkling bleaching powder along the way, civic authorities also put up designated toilets with adequate provide privacy for revellers.

Chhath observers followed their annual ritual and descended to the Kuakhai to offer their respects to the Sun god. Thousands gather along the riverbanks to take part in the rituals with their families.

"The ritual went on for four days. On Thursday, we worshipped the setting sun while on Friday we will go to the riverbank again and worship the rising sun. It is a good move to clean the area. It definitely helped us perform the rituals in a cleaner environment," said Dibyansh Mishra, a resident of GGP Colony.

He said Chhath was an ancient festival and historically native to the Madhesh province and Mithila regions of Nepal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.

"Chhath Puja is dedicated to the Sun and his wife, Usha. We thank them for bestowing the bounties of life on earth and request the granting of certain wishes," said Mishra.

The festival rituals are rigorous and are observed over four days. These include holy bathing, fasting and abstaining from drinking water, standing in water for a long time, and offering prasad and arghya (offerings) to the setting and rising sun.