Chhath is one of the biggest festivals for Kanpur's Purvanchali families, and thousands of fasting devotees offer prayers to the sun on canal banks and ponds. This year, with the four-day festival starting on Friday, 13 November 2026, local reports from 10 to 12 November say many of the city's ghats were still not ready.
What reporters found
Dainik Bhaskar reported on Thursday that heaps of garbage could be seen at ghats across Kanpur. In the Sachan canal, the CTI canal and most other worship sites, the water was not fit for bathing and its colour had turned black. Several ghats were very slippery, and devotees were worried.
Amar Ujala described similar problems. Near the Baba Pataleshwar Mahadev temple in Gangapur, the Amrit pond was full of filth, according to the local councillor of Ward 63, Durga Prasad Gupta. He said thousands of devotees come every year, but no officer had even inspected the site, and there was neither lighting nor cleaning. At the big canal ghat in Armapur, a large, deep pit has been lying open behind the worship site for several days. Because a heavy crowd gathers there on the festival, the paper warned it could cause a serious accident.
Action by the Nagar Nigam
Municipal Commissioner Arpit Upadhyay inspected the city on Thursday. According to Dainik Bhaskar, he found dirt in several places and a fire burning in a garbage heap near Naya Pul in Zone 3. He wrote to the state government seeking the suspension of the regional sanitation and food inspector for that area, and issued show-cause notices to the zonal sanitation officer and the regional municipal health officer for lapses in supervision.
He ordered a special cleaning drive on all Chhath ghats, the roads leading to them and nearby areas, along with garbage lifting. Officers were told to tour their areas regularly, and the commissioner warned of strict action against negligent staff.
Earlier, on 11 November, Dainik Bhaskar reported that he visited the Panki-Kalyanpur and CTI canal sites. After water was shut off in the canal, he asked for the silt and dirt on the bed and both banks to be cleared within 24 hours using a JCB and TMX-20 machines. He also directed that two high-mast lights be installed for night-time worship, and that papers be prepared for permanent steps after the festival.
MLAs step in
Amar Ujala reports that MLA Mahesh Trivedi inspected a ghat in Naubasta West on the complaint of Councillor Yogendra Sharma. He rebuked the executive engineer of the irrigation department for negligence, and also scolded the contractor and engineer at the new ghat for using poor-quality material and told them to finish on time. He was also unhappy that yellow bricks were being used at the Dhobin Pulia ghat under construction.
MLA Surendra Maithani also inspected a ghat and asked officials to ensure cleaning, water, lighting, barricading and a mobile facility, according to a Dainik Bhaskar headline.
A new ghat in Armapur
Not all news was bad. In Armapur, the Purvanchal Chhath Puja Samiti has held worship on a kaccha ghat in front of Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 2 for about 22 years. This time the Ordnance Factory administration has allowed temporary construction, and the Nagar Nigam is building a ghat about 150 metres long and 13 feet wide. The committee thanked the mayor, the MLA and the local councillor.
What devotees can do
- Go early and check the footing before entering the water; several ghats are slippery.
- Keep children away from canal edges, pits and unfinished construction.
- Report problems to the Nagar Nigam control room or your ward councillor so they can be fixed before the evening offering.
- Carry a torch or phone light, since some ghats may still lack lights.
What next
The festival runs for four days from Friday. The test for the civic body will be whether the 24-hour deadlines it set for cleaning are met before devotees arrive, and whether the lights and barricades promised at the canal sites are in place. The suspension request is now with the state government, and the show-cause replies will decide any further action.
