Durga Puja
2 DU students attacked in Ramna Kali Mandir area
Two students of Dhaka University (DU) were injured in an attack by miscreants in the Ramna Kali Mandir area of the city early today (October 22, 2023).
The injured Sourav Sarkar, 25, and Sumit, 23, are students of the Craft and Sculpture departments, respectively, of the university and residents of Jagannath Hall.
Senior students of the hall said the duo, accompanied by others, went out of the hall to visit Durga Puja mandaps at night.
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An altercation occurred between the two and some miscreants near the Ramna Kali Mandir around 2 am. The reason behind the incident could not be known immediately.
At one stage, the miscreants beat them up and stabbed Sourav in the stomach with a sharp object, they said.
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Returning to the hall, the duo went to their seniors, who first took them to the university’s medical centre.
Later, Sourav was moved to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), said the hospital’s police outpost in-charge, Md Bachhu Mia.
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Quoting physicians, he said that Sourav's condition was critical.
Trade via Cumilla's Bibir Bazar land port to remain suspended for 6 days for Durga puja and Laxmi puja
The export and import activities through Bibir Bazar land port of Cumilla will remain suspended for six days for Durga puja and Laxmi puja, the biggest religious festivals of the Hindus.
Jamal Ahmed, the president of Bibirbazar Land Port Import-Exporters Association of Cumilla and the C&F Agents Association, said the import and export activities through Cumilla Bibir Bazar port will be suspended for 6 days based on the decision of the traders of the two countries to share the joy of puja.
Durga Puja set to begin Friday
In view of this, import and export will be suspended on October 21-24 on the occasion of Durga puja and October 27 and 28 on the occasion of Laxmi puja. However, imports and exports will continue on October 25-26, he added.
No specific security threat during Durga puja: DMP chief
However, during this period, the passenger crossings through immigration in both countries will proceed as usual. Import and export activities will resume from Sunday morning on October 29, he added.
It is to be noted that more than 50 products including stones, plastic items and cement are exported to the Indian state of Tripura through this land port.
Durga puja: 2175 puja mandaps to be set up in Chattogram
Bagerhat's Shikdarbari Durgotsob returns to take centre-stage in Puja celebrations
After authorities halted the festival for the past three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's renowned ‘Shikdar Bari Durgotsob’ is going to be reinstated on a large scale this year in Bagerhat.
The Shikdarbari Durgotsob, which faced a forced closure from 2020 to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is back on a grand scale. During the pandemic, Puja was organized on a small scale to uphold religious rites, but this year marks a resurgence of grandeur.
A total of 501 idols of gods and goddesses are gracing the Shikdarbari Puja Mandap, arranged with precision and artistry.
In the eleventh hour, the work of adorning and embellishing the idols in the puja mandap is in progress. Various modifications are being introduced to the idols to captivate visitors. Deities from Satya, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali Yuga are interspersed throughout the puja mandap as companions to Mahamaya Goddess Durga.
Read: With 463 mandaps, Lalmonirhat gearing up for Durga Puja celebrations
The pandal is a vibrant spectacle, with artisans putting final touches to the idols just moments before the festival kicks off. Various modifications and creative flourishes have been added to captivate the visitors, creating a captivating ambiance.
Vijay Krishna Bachar, the sculptor behind the artistry, said that a team of 15 dedicated artisans spent five months crafting the 501 idols of various gods and goddesses.
Liton Shikder, the organizer of Shikdar Bari Durga Puja, said that despite performing puja for the past three years to preserve religious rituals, the Durgo Festival couldn't be held due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Durgotsob has been organized this year as before, he said.
The organisers of the district hope to make the autumn Durgotsav a recurring spectacle in this family worship hall.
Durga Puja: PHQ issues advisory to ensure smooth puja celebration
Police Headquarters has issued some advice to the Hindu community for smooth celebration of Durga Puja, the biggest festival of Hindu community in the country.
The PHQ urged the Hindu community to remain aware about those involved in spreading rumour in the social networking sites including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter in a bid to harm the religious harmony.
Trade through Hili land port to remain suspended for 7 days for Durga Puja
It also asked the puja organisers to set up separate entry ways for female and male devotees.
All were asked to refrain from carrying any bags at the puja mandaps.
It also asked to ensure CCTV cameras and fire extinguishers and established archway in important puja Mandaps.
The PHQ also asked the authorities concerned to keep sufficient lights at the immersion day and keep generator, charger lights standby for any emergency, if possible.
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It also asked the authorities concerned to appoint volunteers for security.
The PHQ also asked to refrain from firecrackers during puja.
It also asked to use designated route for immersion of idols and ensure attendance of volunteers at the Puja mandaps.
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In any emergency, PHQ asked to make phone call to the police headquarters, DMP control room or Rapid Action Battalion control room.
The control room numbers are—01320001299, 01320001300, 01-55102666, 02-223381188, 02-47119988, 01320037845-46, 02-48963117 and 01777720029.
Fire service control room is also available for any emergency. The numbers include-02-223355555, 0171303181-82.
Trade through Hili land port to remain suspended for 7 days for Durga Puja
Export and import between Bangladesh and India through Dinajpur’s Hili land port will remain suspended for seven days on the occasion of Durga Puja, the largest religious festival of the Hindu community.
Md Mostafizur Rahman, general secretary of Hili Land Port Import-Export Group, said that trade activities will remain halted from October 19 to 25 .
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“The import-export through the land port will resume in full swing from October 26 after the Puja celebration,” he said, adding that they have taken the decision after a meeting with traders from both the countries.
Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Hili Immigration check-post, Sheikh Ashraful, said though business activities will remain suspended during the weeklong vacation, immigration process will go on as usual.
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So, the cross-border travel will continue through the immigration check-post of the land port during this time, he added.
Md Bayezid, deputy commissioner of the Hili Land Customs Station, said that local businesses will be able to release their imported goods by paying customs during the vacation except on October 24 as it will be a public holiday for Durga Puja.
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3km-tailback at Daulatdia as holidaymakers rush back
The long weekend on the back of last week's Puja holiday has now sparked a 3-km long tailback at Goalondo’s Daulatdia ferry terminal on Sunday evening, as hundreds of vehicles with holidaymakers kept waiting to cross the river on their way back home.
The long line of slow-moving vehicles crossed Daulatdia canal ghat area on Dhaka-Khulna highway, as some of the passengers complained about being stuck for more than three hours in the afternoon.
The pressure of Dhaka-bound vehicles at Daulatdia point was compounded from Sunday noon with the addition of a large number of Muslim devotees heading toward Faridpur’s Atrashi Darbar Sharif for Eid-e-Miladunnabi, said Firoz Ahmmed, terminal supervisor of Lalon Paribahan bus service from Kushtia.
Many of the passengers told the UNB reporter they were heading towards Dhaka to join their workstations after the Durga Puja Holiday.
Alamin Sheikh, a bus passenger returning to Atroshi from Faridpur, said that he was a part of a team loaded in three buses from Gazipur on Saturday night to observe Eid Miladunnabi at Atorshi.
Read: 35 km tailback on Dhaka-Chattogram highway after road accident
“I started to return to Gazipur at Sunday noon and remained stuck here since then,” he said.
At least 180 such vehicles returning from Atroshi also remained stuck in the long traffic.
There are 16 small and big ferries on the Daulatdia-Paturia route but only 10 of them are operational and rest are kept in the floating factory at Paturia as there was a lack of traffic after inauguration of Padma Bridge, said Md. Salah Uddin, Daulatdia office manager, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA)
Amid the increased pressure of vehicles due to holiday and Eid-e-Miladunnabi from Sunday afternoon, we may make all the 16 ferries operational if necessary, he said.
Bijoya Dashami: Durga Puja ends with immersion of goddess
Durga Puja, the biggest festival of Bengali Hindus, has come to an end on Wednesday with the immersion of Goddess Durga’s idols across the country amid tight security.
According to Hindu belief, the goddess Durga has returned to her husband's house at Kailash in Devaloy (heaven) through immersion.
In the capital, thousands of people thronged the Buriganga River in the city’s Bosila area today to observe the final phase of the festival -- immersion of the goddess.
Hindu devotees from different parts of the city came to the ghat in trucks carrying idols while singing hymns to Durga with the sounds of musical instruments such as ‘Shankha’, ‘Khol’, ‘Dhak’.
Devotees were seen bidding farewell to the mother deity and her children – Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh – through the immersion of their idols, wishing Durga’s return next year.
In the port city, idol immersion was held at Patenga Sea Beach, Karnaphuli River, Firingi Bazar and Salimpur Beach area at Kalurghat and Sitakunda.
Read: Kolkata artists paint, mold idols for Durga Puja
Durga Puja celebrations have been organised at 282 places in the Chattogram metropolitan area. Besides, the leaders of Chattogram Puja Udjapon Parishad said Durga Puja has been celebrated in 15 upazilas of the district in a total of 2,062 mandaps.
Visitors have been thronging Puja mandaps to celebrate Bijoya Dashami, the last day of the festival, recite the mantras, offer flowers to the goddess Durga and pray for her blessings since morning.
On Bijoya Dashami, Hindu families visit each other.
As part of the main rituals of Dashami Puja celebrations, female devotees offered vermilion at the feet of Durga at mandaps and temples across the city, which is part of the traditional ‘Shidur Khela’. The ritual follows Hindu women putting vermilion on each other, wishing for prosperity in lives, as a tribute to the power of Goddess Durga.
Also read: No security lapses for Durga Puja: Rab DG
Kolkata artists paint, mold idols for Durga Puja
Spirits are soaring in India’s “City of Joy” as tens of thousands of people jostle on Kolkata’s streets in celebration of “Durga Puja,” the most important festival of the Bengali community.
The five-day festival that began Saturday is marked by prayers to the Hindu goddess Durga, feasts, rejoicing, music, dance and drama marking the victory of good over evil. People visit richly illuminated and decorated community centers with idols of Durga and other goddesses worshipped by the Bengali community.
This year’s Durga Puja in West Bengal state in eastern India comes after two years of pandemic curbs on large gatherings and follows UNESCO’s recognition of Kolkata’s festival as part of the “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.”
Bijoya Dashami: Bangladesh all set to bid adieu to Goddess Durga!
Durga puja, the largest religious festival of the minority Hindus, will culminate in Bangladesh, with the immersion of idols on Wednesday evening.
On the last day of the puja, devotees are thronging mandaps in Dhaka and elsewhere across the country for Bijoya Dashami, the last day of the grand festival, to celebrate the triumph of the Goddess Durga over the buffalo demon Mahishasura.
On this day, families visit each other and exchange sweetmeat. Married Hindu women put vermilion on each other's forehead on the occasion.
In Bangladesh this year, the religious festival is being celebrated at some 32,168 puja mandaps across the country, including 241 in Dhaka.
In the capital, thousands of people are set to throng the Buriganga on Wednesday to observe the final phase of the festival -- the immersion of the Goddess Durga.
Devotees in their tearful eyes will bid farewell to the mother deity and her children – Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh – as the idols will be immersed, wishing the Goddess Durga’s return next year.
Meanwhile, there will be strict security measures in place so that Durga puja ends peacefully.
The five-day festival started on October with the incarnation (Bodhon) of the Goddess Durga marking Sashthi.
Durga Puja, the annual Hindu festival also known as Sharadiya (autumnal) Durga Utsab, is the worship of "Shakti" (divine force) embodied in the Goddess Durga.
It symbolises the battle between good and evil where the dark forces eventually succumb to the divine.
Meanwhile, President Abdul Hamid has greeted the members of the country's Hindu community on the occasion.
In his message, President Hamid said the main religious festival of the Bengali Hindu community is Durga Puja. "The country’s Hindu community has been celebrating the puja amid huge enthusiasm and festivity with different rituals since ancient times."
Durga Puja: How the blackout ruined Nabami in Narayanganj
Like every year, the joy of Durga Puja had spread throughout Narayanganj with the participation of people of all religions from the sixth to the eighth day of the festival this year too.
But whereas every year it is Bijaya Dashami (the 10th day, on Wednesday this year) that is associated with a solemn air for the departure of Goddess Durga, this year it was Nabami (the 9th day, that fell on Tuesday) that got covered in a pall of gloom due to the countrywide blackout.
On Tuesday afternoon, the entire district lost electricity, alongside most of the nation. After 8 pm, electricity returned in some areas of Narayanganj city but most areas still remained without power till 10 pm.
For the three previous days of the puja, the district town was full of light, but today the mood of the puja was ruined due to the blackout. Many mandaps around the city could be seen ready for the celebrations on the surface. Every year, Nabami is the day when there is a lot of noise around the mandaps, but this year Nabami seems to be completely silent. Even though there are elaborate lighting systems set up, there is no light on the roads due to lack of electricity.
Nabami is usually the most joyous day of the festival. In Amlapara, we ran into Amit Das, who felt robbed of the climatic atmosphere one associates with Nabami.
“Usually there are so many people in the temples, there is no space to walk,” said Amit. “People are just happier. But compared to that, there are no people in the mandaps this year. No happy faces. No electricity, darkness all around, nobody likes it. Everyone went home.”
In Tanbazar area, one Mitu Chakraborty said, "Everyone likes to roam around on the night of Nabami during the puja. But this year all joy has faded in darkness. I went to two temples. There was no music playing. I don't feel good, I'll leave after a while. The electricity went and ruined the joy of worship."