Tragic end to 4-day Chhath in districts

PURNIA: A large number of devotees congregated at several ghats at Kala Bhavan and Pukki-talab in Purnia town and waited with bated breadth for the Sun god to emerge out of the dark patches of clouds hovering in the sky for the evening ‘arghya’ on Wednesday, and again on Thursday morning. They stood in waist deep waters, and prayed for the well-being and prosperity for their respective families.
“I simply can not remember since when our family has been observing the Chhath puja,” says Astuthi Yadav in Purnia.
“Earlier, we used to go to Pukki-talab, but, it is now so crowded and jam-packed that we now prefer to build a temporary pond on the rooftop of our house and offer obeisance to Sun god,” he said.
Tightest ever security was in place this time around in Kishanganj. Though crackers and fireworks were banned, there was no lack of enthusiasm among the devotees. The cops and the magistrates were posted at all 34 common ghats across the town. But, it is traditional Khagra ghat, which attracted the largest number of devotees and worshippers.
Many devotees, both men and women, still prefer to reach ghats by covering the entire distance by prostrating themselves on the roads. “How hard and arduous this is,” remarks Sarthak Prasad whose father has been doing this year after year.
In Ara, With the offering of 'arghya' to the rising Sun god in the morning on Thursday, the four-day Chhath puja festival concluded in Bhojpur district with traditional. No untoward incident was reported during the festival due to alertness of the district administration though the devotees had to face a lot of hardships in having a dip in the contaminated water of ponds or canal.
Most of the devotees did not have a dip in the canal or pond water and they preferred to offer ‘arghya’ from the bank itself. Several social organizations had installed their stalls and offered milk and tea to the devotees free of cost.
One drowns in Sitamarhi
Sitamarhi: A resident of village Ghusukpur in Sheohar district Ram Kishun Rai, 45, drowned in village pond on Thursday morning while offering prayer during Chhath puja under Tariyani block of Sheohar district. His death dampened the mood of festivity.