In the couple of weeks ahead of the ongoing Chhath Puja, at least 2.44 lakh people travelled from Surat to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh for the celebrations even as the Surat Municipal Corporation made elaborate arrangements for the four-day long Hindu festival, starting from November 5.
According to the data from the Western Railway on November 3, over 25,000 people travelled from Surat in a single day to their native places in UP and Bihar.
In Surat, the Chhath Puja celebrations started on Tuesday across 13 locations in the city.
The Surat Municipal Corporation made arrangements for the devotees along the banks of Tapi river and has also set up artificial ponds.
The civic body has also provided drinking water facilities for the visitors and barricaded the area to prevent stampede along with deployment of personnel from fire and health departments, said sources.
Bihar Vikas Mandal, one of the oldest organisations which started the Chhath celebrations in Surat, is spearheading the celebrations in different localities including Singhanpore, Jehangirpura, Dindoli, Amroli, Vadod, Sachin and Godadara.
Bihar Vikas Mandal President Prabhunath Prasad Yadav told The Indian Express: “The Chhath Puja holds great importance among people of Bihar and now it has extended to Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. The four-day festival will culminate on Friday.”
Sharing about how the Chhath Puja celebrations started in Surat, Yadav said, “In 1994, Surat City witnessed a pneumonic plague resulting in several deaths. Due to the disease, several textile workers migrated to UP and Bihar. Many textile factories were shut down and Surat faced great economic loss. It was the then BJP leader and late union minister Kashiram Rana, who visited Bihar and Odisha among other states and requested people to return to Surat for work. As the Chhath Puja dates were close, a few political leaders of Bihar advised Rana to make arrangements for the celebration in Surat. Following this, special trains were run from Bihar to Surat to bring back the textile workers.” Yadav further said, “In 2017, BJP corporator and Bihar resident Girja Shanker Mishra requested the then mayor to make arrangements for the Chhath Puja in the city and later, a resolution was passed in this regard. Since then, SMC has been making arrangements for the Puja.”
The SMC has also set up artificial ponds in Vesu and Godadara, he added.
Special trains
Keeping in mind the festive rush, the Western Railway started special festival trains from Udhna railway station in Surat to UP and Bihar.
According to the data from Western Railway, from October 16 to November 4, 2.44 lakh migrant workers left from the Udhna railway station for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The Western Railways earned a revenue of Rs 5.24 crore through ticket sales.
At 25,039, the highest number of passengers traveled from Udhna on a single day on November 3.
Chief public relations officer Vineet Abhishek in a statement said that to meet the travel demand this year, the Western Railway is running almost 375 special trains during the festive season to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha.
Additional coaches are also being augmented in regular trains as per availability and demand. On Wednesday, 18 special trains were in operation while on Thursday, 14 such trains will be run, said the statement.