Chhath Puja: Special trains on tracks; AAP & BJP lock horns over Delhi arrangements

Indian Railways preparations

On Tuesday, the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government requested the Ministry of Railways to run more special trains to ensure hassle-free travel for people planning to travel to the state for Chhath Puja.

Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told news agency ANI on Friday that 250 special trains and 1.4 lakh berths would be arranged for the festival. Vaishnaw also tweeted on Wednesday, “Total 36,59,000 extra berths made available for festival demand during Chhath, Diwali and Puja by running additional 2,614 trips of trains.”

ANI also quoted Central Railways Chief Public Relations Officer Shivaji Sutar as saying that “256 trains on Diwali & Chhath puja” were being organised from “station of Central railways in Maharashtra to other parts of the country”.

Delhi: AAP faces L-G and BJP’s criticism

In the national Capital, the ongoing spat between Lieutenant Governor Vinay Saxena and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal continued over Chhath Puja arrangements.

On October 14, Kejriwal announced that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had allocated Rs 25 crore for Chhath Puja and made arrangements at 1,100 sites across the national capital, adding that the festival used to be celebrated at 69 places before the AAP came to power in 2014. “Before we came to power, Chhath was a mere formality for the government. But, now, we will celebrate Chhath on a bigger scale across 1,100 sites in Delhi and we have allocated Rs 25 crore,” said the Delhi CM.

The AAP leader tweeted on October 21, “Chhath Puja will be celebrated as before on the ghats of the Yamuna and orders have been given to all the officers that all arrangements will be made to ensure that Yamuna is not polluted.”

Team of Delhi Jal Board sprays chemical into Yamuna to dissolve the toxic foam seen on the surface of the River Yamuna before Chhath Puja at Kalindi Kunj, in New Delhi on Friday. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)

After giving his approval to Chhath Puja festivities at designated ghats on the banks of the Yamuna, Saxena asked Kejriwal on Wednesday to stop “misleading and premature publicity” and ensure clean ghats and water for the devotees.

“I consider it important to place on record my serious concern regarding the premature publicity made by Hon’ble CM regarding the celebration of Chhath Puja on ghats of the Yamuna vide his tweet (from October 21),” the L-G said.

He added, “This tweet also gives the impression that the Chhath festival will be celebrated on all Yamuna Ghats, which is misleading and may cause confusion in public as Hon’ble NGT has allowed Puja only on the ‘designated sites’. This is seriously problematic as it violates the basic principles of the scheme of governance. Needless to state, that premature publicity of the decision creates interest and thus influences the decision-making process independently in the matter which is extremely sensitive as it relates to religious beliefs and practices of a large section of people.”

The L-G further advised Kejriwal to “refrain from such acts in future, in the larger public interest”. In response, the AAP claimed that “the L-G is hungry for cheap publicity and wants to see his name in newspapers every day”.

Preparations underway for the upcoming Chhath Puja festival at Chhath Ghat, near ITO in New Delhi. (Express photo by Amit Mehra)

The BJP also joined in on Thursday and hit out at the AAP. Taking a boat ride along the Yamuna near Kalindi Kunj to point out “toxic foam” floating on the surface, BJP MPs Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma and Manoj Tiwari criticised Kejriwal for failing to clean the river. Kejriwal replied by asking for an “an account” of the BJP’s “15 years in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Verma also challenged the CM to take a dip in the Yamuna.

The AAP on Friday criticised Verma after a video emerged of him speaking sternly with a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) official in charge of spraying a “defoamer” in the Yamuna.

Maharashtra: Dispute over a venue

In Maharashtra, there was a dispute over a Chhath Puja venue. On October 19, Durga Parmeshwari Seva Mandal president and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Rakhee Jadhav received a letter from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) stating that it would cancel the permission to hold Chhath Puja at the Acharya Atre Maidan in Mumbai’s Pant Nagar area.

On Thursday, the Bombay High Court set aside the BMC order. The court held there was “malice” in the civic body’s action and asked the Pant Nagar police station to decide on a no-objection certificate (NOC) for the mandal at the earliest.