In India, especially Bihar, the festival of Chhath is celebrated with much pomp. We reviewed how the Chhath festival is being celebrated at the ghats of Yamuna river in Delhi.
On Chhath, devotees come to the banks of the river with fruits and flowers to offer prayers to the sun. Along they bring polythene bags, which is then left behind at the river banks in heaps of waste.
The Quint hit the Yamuna banks around the Chhath puja to see how much the worshipers are aware of the pollution they are creating, and what sort of initiatives the government has taken.
Vinod Patel, a devotee who came to Chhath Puja, said, “There are a lot of Biharis in Delhi. The government has made better arrangements this year than before.”
Vikas Rai, a member of the Chhath Puja Committee, said, "Toilet cars have not come this year.”
Despite the water of the river being so polluted, people were taking a dip in it on the occasion of Chhath puja.
Meanwhile, sanitation workers who work at the area said they are forced to fight with for proper equipment.
“We need gloves for our hands, we should have masks on our mouths, we should have hats, we should have shoes and socks,” one worker complained.
But despite all this, year after year, people repeat the same routine of polluting the Yamuna with no reparations.
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