Kolkata, Mar 2 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday inaugurated the Ganga Aarati -- similar to the one held in Varanasi -- in Kolkata's Baje Kadamtala Ghat.

She said that the Aarati rituals will be held every evening.

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"During the summer, the Aarati will be held at 7 PM while in the winters it will be organised at around 6 PM," she said.

A temporary platform on which the Aarati will be performed at the ghats on the Hooghly river will be removed every morning and set up again in the evening, Banerjee said.

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During the ritual, priests chanted mantras in front of the Ganga Devi idol while the chief minister played a conch shell.

The Baje Kadamtala ghat on the river Hooghly was decked up for the event. Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, senior government officers and others were present at the programme.

Banerjee had directed the KMC to start Ganga Aarti on January 12, the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)