Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Bengali Hindu community, started across the country on Monday (October 11) with the Shashthi puja.
The main puja of Goddess Durga started on this day and the puja mandapas will be open till Vijaya Dashami on next Friday.
More than two and a half thousand mandaps all over Sylhet is celebrating the Puja. People of all classes and professions of the Hindu religion will gather at the festival.
In this region of communal harmony, people of other religions will also flock to the mandaps to enjoy the festive mood.
According to Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad and various Puja Celebration Committees, this year Durga puja will be celebrated at 2,584 private and public mandaps in Sylhet division, both permanent and temporary in nature.
However, the number of mandaps this year is 171 less than last year. Last year the number of mandaps set in Sylhet was 2,755 in total.
Concerned people said that this time puja will be celeberated in 605 mandaps in Sylhet district. In Sylhet metropolitan area, a total of 65 public and family pujas have been organized. This year the number of mandaps in Sylhet district has increased to 21.
In Sunamganj, puja is organized in 420 mandaps which is 8 more than last year’s 412 mandaps.
In Moulvibazar district 1,083 mandaps has been set and the mandaps will be booming with the music of traditional drums. The number of mandaps in this district is 210 less than last year.
Meanwhile, worship is being organized in 686 mandaps in Habiganj district this year. Last year the number was 676. This year the number of mandaps has increased by 10 in the district.
Advocate Mrityunjay Dhar Bhola, Central Joint General Secretary of Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad, told Bangladesh Post that all preparations for the puja celebration had been completed beforehand.
There is a monitoring cell to look after the overall situation. The issue of security is being looked into by the law enforcement agencies, he added.
Mrityunjay urged everyone to follow the rules of hygiene and join the puja festival being careful.