Diwali’s over and now preparations for the Big Bihar Bathing Bash is on. It’s a snaan party that happens 6 days after Diwali, and thousands of devout Biharis will take a dive into almost freezing water to ward off the evil forces!

As usual, the festival has a lot of ramifications, both civic and political. no surprises then that Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday conducted the second round of inspection of ghats along the Ganga in view of the upcoming Chhath festival. He instructed officials to make arrangements for the smooth passage of devotees coming to the river. He  asked them to ensure separate entry and exit routes for the banks where people would come to perform rituals before the sun god.

The Bihar chief Minister along with invited press chappies  took a ferry ride from Nasriganj Ghat in Danapur to Khajekalan Ghat in Patna City. With him were deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav, road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav, urban development and housing minister Suresh Kumar Sharma, mayor Sita Sahu, chief secretary Deepak Kumar, director-general of police K.S. Dwivedi and several other senior officials from different departments for ‘inspecting’ the ghats.

The the festival will be observed along 93 ghats along the Patna stretch of  the Ganga and the footfall from November 11 to 14 will be a few lakhs!

Referring to the Chhath stampede of 2012 at Adalat Ghat in the state capital in which 18 people were killed and several others were injured, Nitish said special care has been taken to prepare for the Sun worship festival since then.

“Special attention is being given on the depth of water at the ghats so that people do not face any problem in performing Chhath rituals. Work is happening at a good pace, and in a better way. Preparations are satisfactory. We arrange for facilities, but the number of Chhat devotees keeps growing every year. We are now preparing as per the expected increase in the number,”he was quoted as saying.

The chief minister gave directions to the officials to improve the stairs and slopes leading to water on the ghats. He ordered proper arrangements for electricity and lighting.

Nitish, who had noticed heavy erosion near Kurji Ghat during his first inspection on November 3 for preparations for the biggest festival of Bihar, on Thursday again directed officials of the water resources department to keep a watch on erosion and take ‘necessary measures’.