Faith is about to meet infrastructure on a scale Delhi has never seen before. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta announced on Thursday, November 12 that an 11-kilometre-long Chhath Ghat along the Munak Canal is ready to welcome devotees — the city's most ambitious single ghat site yet — with BJP National President Nitin Nabin set to inaugurate it at 1 PM today.

An 11-km ghat and what it signals for the capital's Chhath future

The scale is striking. A single, continuous ghat stretching 11 kilometres along the Munak Canal is designed to give thousands of families a clean, organised stretch of riverbank to offer arghya (prayers to the rising and setting sun) without the overcrowding that has historically plagued Yamuna-side ghats. CM Gupta called it 'a special space for families to come together, offer their prayers and celebrate this beautiful festival.'

Across the city, the administration claims 1,400 Chhath Ghats are operational this season, supplemented by grand arrangements along the Yamuna. Delhi governments have over several years incrementally expanded temporary ghat infrastructure, but the Munak site — if it delivers on its promise — would represent the single largest such addition in recent memory.

Nitin Nabin's 1 PM inauguration at Munak Nahar

BJP National President Nitin Nabin will formally inaugurate the Munak Nahar Chhath Ghat at 1 PM on November 12. The choice of the party's national president for the ribbon-cutting underlines the political weight the BJP-led Delhi government is placing on its Chhath preparations — a festival with deep emotional resonance among communities originally from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, who form a significant slice of Delhi's electorate.

CM Gupta's post, shared in the morning hours, invoked the blessings of Chhathi Maiya — the folk deity at the heart of the festival — wishing 'every home happiness, good health and prosperity.' The message, closing with 'Jai Chhathi Maiya!', is pitched squarely at the devotee community ahead of the festival's most sacred ritual days.

Chhath Puja's hold on Delhi and what devotees can expect

Chhath Puja is one of Hinduism's most demanding festivals — a multi-day observance of fasting, riverbank vigils, and sunrise and sunset rituals honouring Surya Dev (the Sun God) and Chhathi Maiya. In Delhi, it draws millions, particularly from the large diaspora of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh residents who treat it as a non-negotiable annual homecoming, even when home is a DDA flat in Dwarka or a colony in Shahdara.

State administrations across India routinely deploy infrastructure — temporary ghats, lighting, crowd-management barriers, sanitation — to support the festival, and the Munak Canal site fits that pattern. The real test, as always, will come during the sandhya arghya (evening offering) and usha arghya (dawn offering) when crowds surge simultaneously across hundreds of ghats.

Whether the new canal ghat can absorb that footfall — safely and without the pollution concerns that have dogged Yamuna Chhath sites — will determine whether it becomes a permanent fixture on the Delhi Chhath calendar or a one-season experiment. Watch the numbers that come in from Munak after sundown.