The Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) has begun a cleanliness and safety operation across 30 Chhath ghats along the Subarnarekha and Kharkai rivers, with repairs, lighting, barricades and emergency arrangements scheduled for completion before the festival begins on November 13.
JNAC municipal commissioner Yogendra Prasad said repairs, ground levelling and installation of safety barricades were being expedited ahead of the four-day festival. Civic officials, engineers, sanitation supervisors and contractors have been deployed across the ghats to monitor the preparations.
The work includes cleaning riverbanks, spraying bleaching powder, repairing steps and levelling approach roads used by devotees. The civic body is also arranging changing rooms and improving lighting facilities at the riverfront locations under its jurisdiction.
Safety arrangements are being expanded because of the large crowds expected during Chhath. The JNAC said red flags and barricades would be placed at deep-water locations, while local divers and fishermen with boats would be stationed at key ghats. Control rooms and first-aid teams are also planned to manage crowds and respond to emergencies.
The preparations place riverfront sanitation and public safety under the same operational plan. For a festival that draws residents to multiple open-access water sites, the condition of approach roads, steps, lighting and river edges can directly affect how safely people move and gather. The JNAC’s deployment of engineering, sanitation and contractor teams is intended to address these requirements before the festival starts.
The civic body has also appealed to residents to dispose of Kali Puja materials in designated pits instead of immersing them in the rivers. The appeal links festival management with the protection of the Subarnarekha and Kharkai riverbanks, where waste disposal and crowd activity can create additional pressure during the festive period.
The 30 ghats covered by the operation include major locations in Sonari, Kadma, Bistupur, Sakchi, Bhuiyadih, Sidhgora, Baridih and Birsanagar. These sites fall under JNAC jurisdiction and will receive arrangements based on the civic body’s assessment of access, water depth, crowd movement and emergency response needs.
The JNAC said all arrangements would be completed before the commencement of Chhath on November 13. The next operational milestones are the completion of repairs and ground levelling, installation of barricades and red flags, improvement of lighting, and deployment of control rooms, first-aid teams, divers and boats at selected ghats.
