Tag: Chhath Puja

In alert on Chhath Puja, Bihar district admn names Muslims.

Source – indianexpress.com

In an order to the local police and administration, Madhepura District Magistrate Navdeep Shukla has warned against attempts by “mischievous elements from Muslim community (to) cause tension” during the ongoing Chhath festival.

Frowning at the order, the state home department said it would look into the issue. “It was inadvertently phrased,” Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Amir Subhani, said. Bihar DGP Gupteshwar Pandey said the “tone of the order should have been changed”.

In the order, dated October 31, the district magistrate has said: “Water deposit in lanes through which Chhath Puja devotees cross, especially through Muslim settlements… overflowing drain water running through (these) roads causes tension. At times, dismantling of ghat structure because of the crowd also causes problems. Incidents of eve-teasing of relatives and acquaintances of devotees by mischievous elements from Muslim community cause tension. Passing objectionable remarks on Chhath devotees and their relatives causes law and order problems”.

The order also warns against “mischievous elements intending to disturb communal harmony by placing flesh or body parts of dead animals in ponds and rivers”. Citing incidents of communal tension during Dussehra and Muharram in Bihariganj area of the district in 2016, the district administration said special precautions were being taken this time.

When contacted, Shukla told The Sunday Express: “The order is based on Intelligence inputs. Other districts would have also issued such orders. Our idea is to avoid any breach of communal harmony”.

Asked why a particular community had been named, he said: “We put the Intelligence input the way it is. We cannot tone down the language. It is about issuing alerts to ensure that there is no law and order problem… Our goal is to maintain communal harmony”.

The district magistrate, in his order, has referred to an October 23 note from the office of the Additional Director General of Police (Special Branch) on security precautions to be taken during Chhath Puja. This note, however, was a general advisory and did not name any community.

“It will be looked into… I spoke to the DM. He said that it was inadvertently phrased like that. He has been suitably advised,” Bihar Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Amir Subhani said.

Bihar temple wall collapses during Chhath Puja celebrations, 3 dead, many feared trapped.

Source – indiatoday.in

Three people, including two women and one man, were killed and many injured after a temple wall collapsed in Bihar’s Samastipur during Chhath Puja celebrations on Sunday.

Several devotees have been feared trapped under the debris after the wall of Kali temple in Badgaon village of Hasanpur police station area collapsed.

A team of State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) is at the spot and rescue operation is underway.

Also, Rosera SDO and DSP are at the scene to probe the matter.

Officials feared that the death toll may go up as many may have been buried under the debris of the collapsed temple wall.

Meanwhile, a compensation of Rs 4 lakh by the government have been announced for the families of the deceased.

Earlier in a separate incident, two minors were killed in a stampede during Chhath puja celebrations in Suryanagari Dev area of the district on Saturday evening.

The deceased include a six-year-old boy from Patna’s Bihta and a 1.5 year-old-girl, resident of Sahar in Bhojpur. Some other devotees also sustained injuries in the incident during the incident.

Officials and security personnel deployed at the area immediately sprung to action to control the mob and prevent any further escalation of the unfortunate situation.

District Magistrate Rahul Ranjan Mahiwal and Superintendent of Police (SP) Deepak Barnwal also met with the kin of the deceased and expressed condolences.

The officers said they will ensure an ex-gratia to the family members and will make necessary arrangements to ensure that the incident does not recure.

Chhath Puja special trains from Puri to Patna, Hatia, Bhagalpur.

Bhubaneswar: The East Coast Railway (ECoR) is running special trains from Puri to Patna and Bhagalpur in Bihar and Hatia in Jharkhand ahead of Chhath Puja.

Two special trains will run from Puri in Odisha to Hatia and Bhagalpur on Wednesday, ECoR said in a statement.

The Puri-Hatia-Puri special train will depart Puri at 1.30 pm on Wednesday and reach Hatia at 4 am the next day. In the return direction, the train will leave Hatia at 9 am on Thursday and reach Puri at 11 pm the same day, it said.

En route, the train will halt at Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Angul, Sambalpur City, Jharsuguda and Rourkela railway stations.

The Puri-Bhagalpur-Puri special train will leave Puri at 10.30 am on October 30 and November 6 and reach Bhagalpur at 7 am on the following days.

In the return direction, the train will leave Bhagalpur at 8.30 am on October 31 and November 7 and will reach Puri at 6.45 am on the following days, the release said.

En route, the train will stop at Khurda Road, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Bhadrak, Balasore, Hijli, Midnapur, Bankura, Adra, Asansol, Durgapur, Sainthia, Rampurhat, Gumani, Barharwa and Sahibganj stations.

While one Puri-Patna-Puri special train has already left Puri on October 26 and returned to the pilgrim centre on October 28 from Patna, another will leave the Odisha town at 9.25 am on November 2 and reach the Bihar capital at 6.15 am the next day.

In the return direction, the special train will leave Patna at 1.45 pm on November 3 and will reach Puri at 9.45 am the next day, it said.

En route, the train will halt at Khurda Road, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Bhadrak, Balasore, Hijli, Midnapur, Bankura, Adra, Asansol, Chittaranjan, Madhupur, Jasidih, Jhajha, Kiul, Mokama and Bakhtiapur stations.

No Chhath Puja in Kolkata’s Rabindra Sarobar Lake This Year Due to Lockdown

Source: news18.com

Rabindra Sarobar in south Kolkata will be closed for people from November 2-3 on the day of Chhath puja.

Scores of people flock to Rabindra Sarobar lake during Chhath where they offer flowers and other offerings dedicated to the Sun God. Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority or KMDA that holds the custodian of Rabindra Sarobar lake, will handover administrative charge to Kolkata Police during the lockdown period.

“The KMDA will issue a notification on October 18 announcing the closure of Rabindra Sarobar from the noon of November 2 to noon of November 3. Copies of the notification will be sent to all police stations as well as transport associations so that everyone is aware that the lake will be out of bounds for 24 hours,” a KMDA official, who held a review meeting of arrangements to prevent violation of a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order that banned all rituals at the lake, said.

The NGT’s hearing on the issue is scheduled for Tuesday, October 15.

KMDA has already been facing the wrath for failing to implement the NGT order during Chhath puja in 2018 and 2017.

Thousands of devotees thronged to the water body and poured oil and ghee, burst crackers and played loud music in the green zone that is home to around 100 species of birds and several dozen species of animals and amphibians. KMDA has already held two meetings which saw local politicians, police and Bihari Samaj representatives in participation where it was decided to formulate a joint strategy to enforce the order.

On one hand where the KMDA has decided to keep the 73-acre waterbody, it has identified multiple waterbodies as alternative sites for Chhath puja. The necessary arrangement at these places — setting up of changing room, toilets, PA system, lights, ambulance and transport — have also commenced.

KMDA officials along with Kolkata Police held a joint recce at Rabindra Sarobar on Saturday to decide on ways to effectively prevent devotees from thronging to the lake during Chhath on November 2 and 3. All the 17 gates leading to 192-acre site were inspected by the team which also zeroed in on a location to set up a control room where feed from 176 CCTV cameras installed at the lake can be monitored during the 24-hour lockdown, the daily reported.

KMDA also decided upon deployment plan, including hiring of additional private security personnel.

“To prevent a repeat of what happened in the past two years, the police will set up check posts 50 metre ahead of the 15 main gates. Additionally, we will have around 80 private guards in each shift manning the different gates along with more policemen. Since women turn up in large numbers, of the 177 private guards to be deployed, 72 will be female,” the official added.

A police officer told the daily that the deployment figures would be worked out to check trespassing as well as ensuring that the devotees, who turn up there, are transferred to the alternative venues. “The lake will have two layers of security. The control room that will be set up next to Nazrul Mancha will help monitor the situation. In case there is a breach, a force kept on reserve will be sent,” TOI quoted the officer saying.

In the run up to Chhath Puja 2019, KMDA plans to continue its awareness drive through announcements in all the peripheral wards. Directions to the nearest waterbody designated for Chhath Puja will also be installed at major roads in south Kolkata. Devotees from north, central and east Kolkata usually visit to the Hooghly River to perform the rituals.