Delhi has officially declared Monday, November 16, a public holiday for Chhath Puja, with the Lieutenant Governor issuing a gazette notification closing government offices, autonomous bodies and public sector undertakings across the capital.
The notification, issued by the General Administration Department, covers the day of Pratihar Shashthi — also known as Surya Shashthi — when devotees offer the morning Usha Arghya to the rising sun. Schools and colleges under the Delhi government will also remain closed, giving families a three-day window with the weekend to travel to community ghats or to their hometowns in Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.
The four-day festival runs from November 13 to 16, with the evening Sandhya Arghya on Sunday, November 15, and the concluding morning offering on Monday. It is the sun-worship festival of Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh and the Nepal Terai, and in Delhi — home to a large community from those regions — it has become a civic operation in its own right.
The scale of the preparations is striking. More than 1,400 ghats are being set up across Delhi this year, up from 1,326 last year, at Yamuna banks, residential colonies and major parks. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta directed officials to complete basic preparations at all ghats by November 6, leaving only the filling of water, the installation of tents and final cleaning for the festival days.
A committee chaired by Arts and Culture Minister Kapil Mishra is overseeing the arrangements, which include drinking water, medical and ambulance services, fire safety, mobile toilets, security, traffic management, sanitation and uninterrupted power supply. Covered tents are being arranged at large and medium ghats in view of the November cold.
The Yamuna ghats near ITO and Kalindi Kunj, Vasudev Ghat near Kashmere Gate, and Geeta Colony and Shastri Park in East Delhi are among the most prominent sites. On Thursday, BJP president Nitin Nabin will inaugurate an 11-kilometre Chhath ghat along the Munak Canal.
The festival also dovetails with the capital’s newest attraction: the Namo Yamuna River Safari, launched on Tuesday, was timed to open just ahead of Chhath. For the lakhs of devotees who will gather at the river this week, the ghats — and the holiday — are ready.
With the festival beginning on Friday, officials say the final days of preparation will focus on water filling, lighting and crowd management at the busiest ghats. Police and civic agencies have been asked to coordinate traffic and security, and devotees are advised to use designated ghats rather than unguarded stretches of the riverbank.
