NEW DELHI: Shocked by the appalling conditions prevailing at the various Chhat Ghats of the Capital during a round on Saturday, the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president, Ram Babu Sharma shot off a letter to the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit pointing to lack of proper arrangements, poor cleanliness with dirt and filth lying all around, a scenario that is bound to hurt the sentiments of the Poorvanchal people.

A similar letter has also been written to the Delhi Mayor, Satbir Singh, to ensure that proper cleanliness is maintained at all the ghats before the Chhat Puja celebration are kicked off on November 7. Mr. Sharma, accompanied by Mr. Singh and Poorvanchal leader and Nasirpur MLA, Mahabal Mishra, Chairman Standing Committee MCD, Mukesh Goyal and Leader of the House in MCD, Jitendera Kocchar visited a number of ghats during the day to inspect the arrangements for the Chhat Puja.

Interestingly, the preparations that were supposed to have been put in place by the Delhi Government were missing and not even tents had been raised to ensure facilities for the devotees. Stink and dirt was the common site at all the ghats indicating callousness on part of the Delhi Government in dealing with such a sensitive issue. Mr.Sharma visited Kalindi Kunj, Kudasia Garden, ITO, Wazirabad and Sur ghats during the day.

Soon after his visit, Mr. Sharma said he had written a letter to Ms. Dikshit pointing out the deficiencies in the arrangements for the devotees of the Poorvanchal community and urged her to give instructions to ensure that things are in place before the November 7 deadline.

"What we saw was dirt, filth and polluted water in almost all the ghats. It is impossible for the devotees to take a dip in this dirty water as they will fall sick or catch some disease, as the quality of water is very poor. It is surprising that no arrangements have been put in place till date despite only two days left to the auspicious Chhat Puja,'' he added.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the cleanliness situation, Mr. Sharma also directed the MCD officials present on the occasion to depute additional staff so that all the ghats are cleaned and made presentable before the festive occasion.

On the other hand, Mr. Mahabal Mishra said he had urged the Delhi Government to release fresh water from the Wazirabad Barrage at the earliest so that clean water is made available at these ghats for taking the holy dip on November 7.

He was sore that officials of the Delhi Government had erred in taking steps to ensure proper arrangements at the ghats and said he had pointed this out to the Chief Minister as well as the Development Minister, Raj Kumar Chauhan.

Mr. Sharma said that Poorvanchal community constituted nearly 30 per cent of the population of the Capital and no government could afford to ignore their welfare.

He said he would also ask Mr. Chauhan to take action against those officials who have failed to perform despite instructions being issued to them.

Asked under what capacity he was undertaking the inspection, Mr. Sharma said being the DPCC president he was fully authorised to carry out such an inspection, as he did not represent a section of a constituency but the entire people of Delhi.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu