Durga Puja begins Friday

Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Hindu community, will begin with the incarnation (Bodhon) of the Goddess Durga at temples across the country on Friday, reports UNB.

Preparations for celebrating the festival in all the pandals have nearly been completed.

The five-day festival starts with 'Bodhon' of the Goddess Durga marking Sashthi while the festival will come to an end with the emersion of the idols of the Goddess Durga in the nearby rivers and water bodies across the country on 8 October.

Centering the festival, devotees and artisans are busy taking last moment preparations and decorating the temples and pandals across the country.

A mood of festivities persists among the devotees irrespective of ages marking the festival while adequate security measures have already been taken in the puja pandals across the country.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) commissioner Md Shafikul Islam said all the temples in the city will be monitored by CCTV cameras and all have to pass through archway detectors to enter the temples.

Members of law enforcing agencies will remain deployed to ensure complete security during the festival, he said.

This year a total of 233 puja mandaps and four more family puja mandaps have been prepared in the capital, he said.

Among them, four are special puja mandaps- Dhakeswari temple, Ramkrishna Temple, Dhanmondi and Bonani Temple where a huge number of law enforcers will remain deployed.

Draped in new dresses, a large numbers of devotees irrespective of ages will throng the city pandals, particularly at Dhakeshwari National Temple, and offer prayers before the Goddess Durga seeking divine blessings for peace, prosperity and welfare of the country and its people.

President Abdul Hamid and prime minister Sheikh Hasina have issued separate message conveying greetings to the members of the country's Hindu community on this occasion.

In a message, the president urged the people of the country to take development and democracy forward keeping the traditional communal harmony unharmed.

In her message, prime minister Sheikh Hasina said, "Durga Puja is not only a festival of the Hindu community, it has turned into a universal festival. Destruction of evil power and worship of truth and beauty is the main feature of Durga Puja."

She wished peace, welfare and enrichment of all citizens, including the members of the Hindu community, marking Durga Puja.