New Delhi, Nov 17 (PTI) Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Arvinder Singh Lovely on Friday alleged that people from Poorvanchal would be forced to celebrate Chhath Puja in the "dirty" Yamuna river and in a highly polluted air.

Lovely blamed the city government's "inaction" for this.

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Lovely thanked Lt Governor V K Saxena for accepting the Congress' demand to declare Chhath Puja as a dry day, but said the Delhi government did not make any arrangement to ensure clean water in Yamuna by writing to the Haryana government to release fresh water into the river in advance, a statement said.

Spraying chemicals into Yamuna to control the poisonous white broth emanating from factory effluents and sewage discharged into the river will only make the purified water unfit for ablutions by devotees during Chhath Puja, he said.

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Lovely said that the Delhi government took no step to cleanse and prepare over 1,000 ghats in city, leaving the responsibility to the Chhat Puja Samiti, which was facing severe "fund crunch."

When the Congress was in power, the government would start work on Chhat ghats well in advance to provide clean water and clean surroundings with tents and lights for the devotees to perform the puja without any inconvenience, he claimed.

(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)