The civic body will make arrangements for immersions at 13 ghats along the Hooghly

The civic body will maintain 22 bathing ghats along the Hooghly.

The decision was taken after Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) chief engineer A.K. Mehra announced at a joint meeting with police and the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) that the port trust will neither maintain the ghats nor make any arrangements for immersion.

“The river banks belong to the CPT but the ghats were not constructed by it or by the CMC. They were built by zamindars and businessmen of the British era. We have started giving a facelift to select ghats. In order to ensure public safety, we have also decided to maintain them,” said municipal commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay.

A sum of Rs 1.10 crore has been allotted for the maintenance of the 22 ghats between South Sinthee and Garden Reach. The broken stairs and changing rooms will also be repaired.

Idol immersion is allowed in 13 of the 22 ghats, including Bichali ghat, Kashi Mitra ghat, Babughat, Judges ghat, Ahiritola ghat, Nimtala ghat and Jagannath ghat, by the police.

The CMC will undertake patchwork on the 13 ghats first before Puja. “We can only patch up the approach roads to the ghats which are about 15 km in length and the stairs,” said P.K. Dhua, the chief engineer of the civic body’s civil engineering department.

Thorough repair of the staircases will be undertaken after the Puja, he added.

Like the last few years, the CMC will also make temporary arrangements for lighting and ramps for immersion at these ghats.

“Immersion also takes place in 25 ponds in Jadavpur, Santoshpur, Garia and Mukundapur. The civil engineering department will make necessary arrangements for immersion there too,” said Dhua.