The Bihar Jharkhand Association of North America (BJANA) celebrated Chaath puja at Thompson Park, Monroe, New Jersey amid Covid restrictions.
Usually around 25-30 vratis perform puja together at the BJANA event but due to COVID-19 and safety concerns this year only 5 vratis performed together and others performed puja at their home. This year Neetu Prasad, Minal Govil, Sanchita Tiwari, Pratika Prakash and Sushma Singh performed puja at the Ghat.
BJANA started organizing community wide Chhath Puja 4 years back and now it has become a signature event.
After initial apprehensions, the community came together to celebrate the festival with utmost safety measures and social distancing.
The BJANA executive committee members devoted days and nights for a couple of weeks to plan Chhath Puja and executed it successfully. There was a drive through an Araghy arrangement and prasad distribution. The entire event was telecast via Zoom and Facebook live with the help of media telecast expert Pranit Singh and Sudhakar Raj.
Many members of the community observed a three-day fast and puja which brought about 500 members of the community together and hundreds watched the entire puja live.
The event was attended by Consul General of India, New York Randhir Jaiswal and Deputy Consul General Shatrughna Sinha with their families.
“It is great to see the love and affection for mother land. This is one of the auspicious festivals,” said Mr.Jaiswal. FIA past president Alok Kumar said that this event brings the community close. BJANA president Dr. Avinash Gupta acknowledged the team work of the executive committee and the Chhath volunteers with special thanks to Prabish Chaurasia, who devoted all his time for making Prasad for all the attendees.
