Jamshedpur: With no sign of Covid-specific guidelines from the state government, Chhath Puja organisers of Jamshedpur are confused whether to start preparing for the festival and initiate steps like cleaning the ghats and readying puja paraphernalia for distribution among devotees.
“Firstly, we should know whether the government will allow devotees to offer prayers at the waterbodies so that we can plan distribution of puja materials among devotees accordingly,” said Subodh Jha of Bagbera Baroda Ghat Chhath Samiti.
He said his committee will make 13 makeshift Chhath ghats at different places in the backyards of colonies to help devotees offer prayers near their houses and avoid going to the river.
Convenor of Baba Baidyanath Seva Sangh in Mango Vikas Singh said they are waiting to know whether committees will be allowed to erect tents near Chhath ghats and offer tea, milk, fruits and snacks to the devotees. “We will plan according to the guidelines,” Vikas said.
Sanjeev Singh of Surya Mandir Chhath Ghat Samiti in Agrico said this year they are not organising cultural programmes and are yet to decide on distribution of the puja materials.
“We are waiting for the guidelines to take a final decision and will go door-to-door and distribute packets to avoid crowding at the temple, provided permission is given for distribution,” Sanjeev said. Distribution of Chhath Puja paraphernalia is to help people from the economically weaker section to perform the puja.
Notably, the cultural programme at the temple witnesses a large crowd with bhajan singers and popular playback singers from Mumbai and Bihar like Malini Awasthi, Anuradha Paudwal, Lakhbir Singh Lakha among others perform every year.
The chhath puja samiti of Babudih ghat said it will comply with the guidelines and will wait for a few days before taking a call. “We are hopeful that by the end of this week the guidelines will be issued,” said P K Singh.