The Patna district administration on Monday declared 22 ghats unsafe for devotees for the ensuing Chhath festival.

The administration has earmarked 80 ghats as safe for worshipping the Sun god.

Patna district magistrate Kumar Ravi made the announcement following physical inspection of the ghats, based on which a detailed report was submitted by the nodal officers.

“Altogether 22 ghats have been identified as dangerous for the devotees. They would be barricaded off from the approach road itself with signboards informing residents they cannot use these ghats. Police personnel would be deployed to guide the residents,” Ravi told The Telegraph.

The ghats which have been declared dangerous and will be out of bounds for Chhath devotees are: Kurji Ghat, Patliputra Ghat, Shiva Ghat, Meenar Ghat, LCT Ghat, TN Banerjee Ghat, Mishri Ghat, Judges Ghat, Adalatganj Ghat, Vanshi Ghat, Sipahi Ghat, BN College Ghat, Bankipore Club Ghat, Jahaz Ghat, Anta Ghat, Khazekala Ghat, Mirchai Ghat, Garariya Ghat, Nurrudinganj Ghat, Keshav Rai Ghat, Adrak Ghat and Nandgola Ghat.

While declaring a ghat to be dangerous, the administration considered the following parameters: Stagnant water, muddy and marshy land, how far the water level is from the bank, the depth of water, the presence of heavy boulders and poor condition of approach roads. Ravi said that at some ghats, there was no water at all.

The list of the dangerous ghats would be uploaded on the district administration’s website shortly. Ravi appealed to the residents not to visit the dangerous ghats at any cost.

“In the next two days, we will also launch the mobile application for the Chhath festival through which people will get all details pertaining to the ghats and the arrangements made over there,” Ravi said.

Monday was the last day to make the ghats festival ready. Ravi said he inspected the ghats by steamer as well as by road and found that the work done was satisfactory.

“Overall I found the work to be satisfactory. A few things are left which would be completed by tonight (Monday night). Barricading work has been completed at most of the ghats along with other arrangements like portable urinals, changing rooms, watch towers, lighting, control rooms and approach roads,” the DM said.

SDRF and NDRF teams would be deployed to carry out rescue work in case of any eventuality.