Durga Puja: devotees must wear masks; mandaps, temples to be closed after evening

Puja mandaps and temples across the country will remain closed after the evening rituals (Sandhy arati) of Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the country's Hindu community, to be celebrated from tomorrow.

The decision came during a view exchange meeting between Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad and Mahanagar Sarbajanin Puja Committee held at the Dhakeswari temple in the capital. Celebrations too will be on a limited scale.

The Mahanagar Sarbajanin Puja Committee organised the 'Sharodio Durga Puja 2020' view exchange meeting.

This year Durga Puja will start on October 21 with the arrival of Goddess Durga.

The main ritual will start from today through Shashthi Puja and celebrations will end on October 26 through observation of Vijaya Dashami.

Apart from bhog prasad of Goddess Durga, this year there will be no khichuri or prasad distribution or victory procession on the day of Vijaya Dashami.

This year puja will be held in 30,213 mandaps. In Dhaka there will be 232 mandaps.

In the view exchange meeting, Kishore Ranjan Mandal, general secretary of Mahanagar Sarbajanin Puja Committee, said different programmes of Durga Puja will be broadcast live from the Facebook page of the Mahanagar Sarbajanin Puja Committee, Dhakeswari National Temple so that devotees can participate from their homes.

The programs of different puja mandaps and temples will be telecast live on different TV channels as well.

Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad yesterday also issued a 22-point instruction for devotees and visitors which include not to organise any cultural event or arati competition and to avoid organising any fairs.

The instructions also said all including the temple authorities and the visitors must wear masks.

Earlier in the last week, Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad said there will be no "Kumari Puja", one of the main attractions of Durga Puja.