The Chhath ghat committees of Durgapur will be provided a donation of Rs 10,000 each, announced Narendra Nath Chakraborty, MLA of Pandaveswar, who is also the Trinamul president of West Burdwan district, today.

There are 49 Chhath ghat committees, small, medium and big, spread over the 43 wards of Durgapur Municipal Corporation (DMC).

State panchayat and cooperative minister Pradip Majumdar, the MLA of Durgapur East said that they will provide a donation of Rs 10,000 each to these Chhath ghat committees of Durgapur.

“Our government has provided a donation of Rs 85,000 to various Durga Puja committees, the biggest festival of the Bengalis. Most of the Durga Puja committees have accepted the cheques in our West Burdwan district. Chhath Puja is also a major festival, especially for the large number of non-Bengali population in the district. We have planned a donation of Rs 10,000 to each of these 49 ghat committees,” added Narendra Nath Chakraborty.

The various committees of Durgapur have also urged the chairman of South Bengal State Transport Corporation to provide at least two special buses on these Chhath Puja ghats during the two days of the festival for better communication to the chairman of SBSTC, Subhas Mondal.

Anindita Mukherjee, chairperson of board of administrators (BoA) of Durgapur Municipal Corporation has also said that the civic body will clean the various ghats in the DMC area and will also undertake the repairing jobs and clean the approach roads.

This year, Chhath Puja will take place on 7 and 8 November (Thursday and Friday). Lighting systems will also be installed in the Chhath Puja ghats along with CCTV cameras. Asansol Durgapur Police Commissionerate will also use drone cameras and erect watch towers in the most crowded Chhath Puja Ghats, sources said.

Over 30 per cent of the populations in West Burdwan district, mainly in the industrial towns of Durgapur and Asansol are Hindi-speaking and non-Bengali.

The two-day Chhath Puja is the biggest festival for them. The preparation for puja starts after Diwali.

The state government has also announced a two-day holiday during the Chhath Puja festival in the state.