Kartik Purnima is over, but puja leftovers at Subernarekha ghat in Lower Chutiya refuse to go.

Empty water bottles, food packets, thermocol plates and puja items were found littered on the ghat on Saturday where over 20,000 people had gather on Friday to take a holy dip on the auspicious occasion.

Sikander Ram, who is the unofficial caretaker of the ghat and helps cremate dead bodies there, said an RMC team had come to clean the river banks on Saturday morning. However, only a small area near the Shiva temple was cleaned up. “No one can clean up the entire area in one day, but it is true that no one is bothered,” he said.

Grocery shop owner Arvind Tiwari said the river and its banks had turned into dumping yards. He said the river water had turned blackish because of the waste from pyres flowing into it through Harmu nullah near Muktidham. Pointing to a signboard warning of a penalty of Rs 500 for open defecation, Tiwari said the notice was meaningless as there was no public toilet in the area. “Thousands come here on Chhath and Kartik Purnima. They have no choice but to relieve themselves in the open,” he said.

The bridge over the river linking Lower Chutia with Namkum too has began to crumble.