INDIA: Devotees Offer 'Arghya' to Ascending Sun God

PATNA (NNN-PTI) -- Lakhs of devotees congregated Tuesday at various ghats of the Ganga River, including Adalatganj Ghat which witnessed a stampede that left 17 dead last evening, to offer prayers to the Sun God during the Chhath festival.

Seventeen Chhath pilgrims, mostly women and children, died after a makeshift bridge caved in at Adalatganj Ghat.

Devotees thronged the ghats carrying wooden baskets and took their usual place there before the 'Vratis' (persons fasting to offer 'Arghya' to the Sun God) descended in the water upto waist level and stood there.

At the Adalatghat, the entire area was turned into a fortress by the authorities and around 300 policemen and women, besides a BMP Gorkha battalion, were deployed for smooth and peaceful conduct of Chhath festival this morning, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amrit Raj said.

Besides deployment of elaborate security measures, the Adalatghat area was spruced up.

At Adalatganj, the municipal and district authorities had worked on warfooting and had the place cleaned up before the arrival of the devotees in the small hours.  --NNN-PTI