Crowds, many without masks, at ghats of Hindon as devotees offers prayers for Chhath

  • | Saturday | 21st November, 2020

Ghaziabad: The pandemic affected the annual Chhath Puja festival as the gathering of devotees Friday evening at the banks of the Hindon was reduced to about one-fourth the usual. Officials said that they had made several appeals to residents to offer prayers at home due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease. According to officials’ estimates, the gathering was about 15,000-20,000, as against an estimated gathering of over one lakh seen every year. Though a majority of devotees wore face masks, social-distancing was hardly observed.

Ghaziabad: The pandemic affected the annual Chhath Puja festival as the gathering of devotees Friday evening at the banks of the Hindon was reduced to about one-fourth the usual. Officials said that they had made several appeals to residents to offer prayers at home due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease. According to officials’ estimates, the gathering was about 15,000-20,000, as against an estimated gathering of over one lakh seen every year. Though a majority of devotees wore face masks, social-distancing was hardly observed.

Community associations, however, felt the number to be higher. “We estimate that there were about three lakh people there on Friday, as against the seven-eight lakh who come out every year. The gathering was reduced considerably as those who could not make arrangements at home came out. Majority people were wearing masks and our association also distributed free masks. Sometimes, it becomes difficult to maintain social-distancing when the gathering is large,” said Rakesh Tiwari from Purabiya Jan Kalyan Parishad. Those who arrived at the river banks expressed satisfaction about the measures put up.

“Since many of the festivals were curtailed this year due to the pandemic, we were worried whether we would be able to celebrate or not. But the government did not ban prayers and allowed us to celebrate this major festival. It is a matter of relief for us. Many families, however, did not come to the river banks due to fear of Covid-19,” said Durga Prasad Mishra, a devotee from Arthala. The Ghaziabad administration had made arrangements at 53 different places across the city for the festival and had made regular appeals to people to offer prayers at home. “There was an estimated gathering of about 15,000-20,000 people who arrived at the banks of river Hindon and about 95% of them were wearing masks. We distributed about 10,000 masks and more have been arranged for the prayers on Saturday morning. Appeals were issued regularly for social distancing and wearing of masks,” said Shailendra Singh, additional district magistrate (city).


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