LUCKNOW, Oct. 25 -- With Chhath Puja beginning from Saturday, ghats across the state capital were on Friday cleaned and decorated for the festival dedicated to the Sun God. The celebration holds special significance for the city's lakhs of Purvanchali residents, officials said. The Chhath rituals will begin on Saturday (October 25) with Nahay-Khay, which means 'bathe and eat', followed by 'kharna puja,' which is a day of fasting from sunrise to sunset on October 26. This will be followed by 'sandhya arghya' on October 27, wherein devotees pray as the sun sets and 'Usha arghya' on October 28, in which devotees pray to the rising sun. District magistrate Vishak G said that more than 50 ghats have been prepared in urban and rural Lucknow combined for the occasion. Maximum devotees are expected to turn up at Laxman mela ghat, Pucca ghat at Jhulelal Park, Kudiya ghat, Ghaila ghat, Pucca Talab in Sarojininagar and Bakshi Ka Talab. "The cleaning has been completed, and arrangements have been made for devotees coming from different places," he added. The DM said, "The irrigation department is taking all possible measures to keep the river water clean." Staff at Lucknow Municipal Corporation have cleaned and decked up all the ghats. Colourful altars have been prepared for rituals." Energy minister AK Sharma visited some of the ghats and ordered for round the clock electricity supply at ghats. National president of All India Bhojpuri Samaj Prabhunath Rai said that all the preparations for the grand celebration of Chhath Mahaparv at Laxman Mela Ground Gomti Ghat have been completed. He said, "Chhath Puja symbolises purity, discipline and gratitude.The ghat was decked up in the traditional way. From whitewashing to cleaning and famous Madhubani painting was done at the Ghat. District administration and all officials of All India Bhojpuri Samaj are engaged in this in every way." Chief minister Yogi Adityanath would attend the celebrations on October 27 as the chief guest. Over 200 artistes will perform cultural programmes during the event. "This time a separate route has been made for the chief minister and he will come directly to the stage so that there is no inconvenience caused to devotees performing Chhath Puja," Rai said. Cultural programmes will be held in which 200 folk artistes, including folk singer Kalpana Patwari (Assam), Gopal Rai (Ballia), and Suresh Shukla (Mumbai) will present programmes for 18 hours. Manoj Singh, Ved Prakash Rai, Manoj Rai, Sunil Singh, SP Chauhan, Suresh Kushwaha, Ramyatan Yadav, Ambrish Rai, Hanuman Yadav, Awadhesh and others were present in the preparation....