Dhaka: As Durga Puja, the largest religious festival of the Hindu Community, is only three days away, preparations for its celebration are going on in full swing across the country.

The festival will start on 6 October with Bodhon of Hindu goddesses Durga, while Mahashashthi on 7 October. The festive will end with the immersion of idols on 11 October.

Some 19,000 Puja Mandaps are being set up on the occasion, according to Hindu community leaders.

UNB Khagrachhari correspondent reports: 47 mandaps are being set up in the district town and nine upazilas.

Already the sculptors have made idols of Hindu goddess Durga at some mandaps while the remaining works, including colouring of the idols, are going on.

Tarun Kumar Bhatracharya, secretary of the District Puja Udjapon Committee, said this year the Durga Puja will be held at 47 mandaps in the district.

Rais Uddin, assistant superintendent of Khagrachari Police, said additional security measures have been taken ahead of Durga Puja.

In Madaripur, the workers are busy in giving final touches to the idols with paint brush work and decoration as this year Durga Puja will be celebrated at 399 mandaps in four upazilas of the district.

Preparations for celebrating Durga Puja are going on amid festive mood and the local administration has erected a three-tier security apparatus for smooth and peaceful celebration of the festival.

In Khulna, Durga Puja will be celebrated through erecting idols at 117 mandaps in the district.

Khulna Metropolitan Police has similarly formed a three-tier security structure and over 1500 members of law enforcing agencies, including plainclothes police, will provide security to avoid any untoward situation at the puja mandaps in the district.

In Cox’s Bazar, this year Durga Puja will be celebrated at 286 mandaps in the district, which is higher than the previous year.

Nepal Bhattacharya, an elderly sculptor of the district town, said ‘This year I have started my work two months before the festival. I have got orders for making 25 idol sets.’

Advocate Ranjit Das, president of Cox’s Bazar Puja Udjapan Parishad, said this year the cost for making mandaps is higher than the previous year.

Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan on 26 September said adequate security measures have been taken to ensure that people of Hindu community celebrate the Durga Puja without any hassles this year.

Security will be provided to protect the idols as well as the puja mandaps as those are being prepared ahead of the largest religious festival of the Hindu community, besides the enhanced security planned for the puja programmes as well as during the idol immersion across the country, he said while talking to reporters at the Secretariat.

Four Ansar members will be deployed alongside policemen in every puja mandap across the country in order to ward off any untoward incident, said the home minister.

Besides, members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) will patrol alongside police forces in the districts adjacent to the border.

Asaduzzaman also noted that the border guards will also be deployed in other parts of the country, if needed.