The Delhi government has declared a state holiday on Chhath, observed six days after Diwali and a major festival for the city's significant population from Bihar, east Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.
"Chhath is an important festival for the people of Delhi. Accordingly, Delhi government has decided to declared holiday on November 20," Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia wrote in a letter to the Chief Secretary.
The declaration comes a week after the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government imposed restrictions on community celebration of Chhath citing safety concerns amid a third wave of coronavirus infections that saw a record 8,000 daily cases last week.
"The situation of COVID-19 in Delhi was reviewed and it had been observed that there is a persistent rise in cases. Considering this, it has been decided that Chhath celebrations in November 2020 may not be allowed in public places and people may be advised to celebrate the festival at their home," the Delhi Disaster Management Authority order stated.
The order directs district magistrates and deputy commissioners of police to ensure people cannot gather in public places, at temples or at river banks for the four-day festival.
It focuses on sensitising the public and directs the authorities to ensure compliance through cooperation from religious and community leaders to maintain law and order, and harmony.
The state government, however, faced severe criticism from community leaders and the BJP, which protested outside the Chief Minister's residence on Tuesday.
"The government has opened all markets, DTC buses are running with no social distancing, but the government is banning Chhath puja on the pretext of COVID-19. This is clearly a failure of this government. Rather than banning celebrations, arrangements should have been made to ensure social distancing," Delhi BJP unit President Adesh Gupta said.
Besides Delhi, several states, including Bihar and Jharkhand, have imposed complete or partial bans on performing community celebration in view of the coronavirus pandemic. The UP government has also issued an alert to all the districts to take "special precautions".
Every year till now, the Delhi state government has made elaborate arrangements along banks of Yamuna for Chhath, when lakhs of people offer prayers to the Sun God by standing in water bodies.
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