Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Bengali Hindu community, began on Saturday with Maha Shasthi puja at temples across Bangladesh amid festivity and religious fervour.
The five-day annual celebration began with unveiling of the face of the deity and Kalparambho on the day of Maha Shasthi the day after Friday and it will end on October 5 with the immersion of idols.
President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages on the occasion of Durga Puja.
Durga Puja is being celebrated at 32,168 mandaps across the country this year including 241 in the capital, according to Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad.
Earlier, the parishad in a press briefing informed that the number of puja mandaps was 32,118 across the country the previous year.
The council’s president, JL Bhowmik, said volunteers will work at every puja mandap round the clock during the five-day Durga Puja to help law enforcement agencies avert any untoward situations.
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of puja mandaps decreased slightly in the previous year but this year the number has increased.
In Dhaka, the main puja mandaps are at Dhakeshwari National Temple, Ramkrishna Mission and Math, Kalabagan, Banani, Shakhari Bazar and Ramna Kali Mandir.
Major divisional cities, including Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna and Sylhet, and district towns including Faridpur, Dinajpur, Jessore, Kushtia, Satkhira, will also witness massive celebrations of Durga Puja.
Stringent security measures were taken across the country during the celebration of Durga Puja to avert any untoward situations.
Earlier, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed said flawless security measures will be ensured during Durga Puja celebrations across the country.
We have already taken three tiers of security measures at mandaps ahead of Durga Puja and it will continue till the end of the puja, the IGP said.
He said necessary CCTV cameras will be installed at puja pandals and mandaps while handheld metal detectors and archway gates will also be set up.
He said necessary volunteers will be engaged round the clock at puja mandaps while separate entry and exit routes for men and women, adequate lights at puja mandaps and pandals and the places of immersion, standby generator or charger lights will have to be arranged. The IGP urged all to call the national emergency service 999 in case of emergency.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Md Shafiqul Islam on Thursday said police are ready to thwart any possible militant attack during the Durga Puja celebration.
The DMP commissioner came up with the remark while talking to reporters after inspecting security measures taken for Durga Puja at Dhakeshwari temple in the capital on Thursday.
Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Hindu community, will begin from October 1 with various rituals on the day of Maha Shashthi and will end on October 5 with immersion of idols.
Durga Puja will be held at 32,168 mandaps (pandals), including 241 in the capital city, across the country this year.
The top official of the DMP said that 50 youths have left their homes in the last one month and intelligence surveillance is being conducted to find them. Police are working keeping in mind any possible militant attack, he said. The DMP commissioner said that efforts are on to bring each puja mandaps under CCTV cameras.
Besides, the puja mandaps, where there are no CCTV cameras, will be kept under surveillance by police and Ansar members for 24 hours.
