Chhath Puja celebration: The Chhath puja celebration soured in Delhi's Geeta Colony after devotees staged protests over a dry ghat made by the state government on Thursday. It was a rude shock for hundreds of devotees who rushed to the artificial ghat to perform 'Sandhya Arghya' to worship the setting sun.
"Why did they (government officials) make all these arrangements if they were not going to give water? We could have celebrated the festival at our homes. We will take it to the streets if water is not provided," said a devotee who reached the artificial ghats and found an empty ghat.
Another devotee said, "There is no water for us to complete the Chhath Puja. The sun is setting and our time to offer the 'Arghya' is slipping away. They could have told us earlier, we could have done it on the roofs by filling water in tubs."
We are being insulted and the MLA has switched his phone off," he added.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government made arrangements for devotees to perform puja at 1,000 different spots in the city. The government did not give permission to perform the Chhat puja at Yamuna ghats due to pollution in the river.
HC refuses to allow devotees to perform puja at Yamuna banks
Earlier on Wednesday, the Delhi High Court refused to allow devotees to perform Chhath Puja at banks of Yamuna river here, noting that it was highly polluted and could lead to people falling sick. The high court noted that the Delhi government has made sufficient arrangements for devotees to perform puja at 1,000 different spots in the city and nothing else can be done at the eleventh hour.
"Please understand you will fall sick. we can't allow you (devotees) to go into the water. It is highly polluted. It is a gigantic task, it cannot be done now. We can't clean up Yamuna in one day's time," a bench of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said. It said that "this will be very harmful, we don't want any harm to be done to devotees".
