Bagerhat Correspondent :
Brisk preparations are afoot to celebrate 5-day long Durga Puja of hindu community on October 01 (Saturday) in Bagerhat District Town and it’s all the nine Upazilas with religious fervour, gaiety, solemnity, peaceful and happy atmosphere. According to the belief of the Hindu community, this year Goddess Durga will appear on the earth by elephant and will leave the same by boat.
According to Abonish Chakrabarty (Sona), General Secretary of Bagerhat District Unit of Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad (BPUP), as many as 642 Puja Mandops (pandels) are being erected in Bagerhat District Town and it’s all the nine Upazilas. The number of Puja Mandops in the district town is 13 while the number of Upazila wise Puja Madnops is 154 in Chitalmari, 116 in Bagerhat Sadar, 75 in Morrelganj, 85 in Mollahat, 62 in Fakirhat, 43 in Kachua, 47 in Rampal, 38 in Mongla and 23 in Sharankhola. The highest number of Puija Mandaps, 154 in number, is being erected in Chitalmari Upazila.
Every year the biggest puja mandop of the district as well as in the country is being erected at Shikdarbari within Khanpur Union Parishad under Sadar Upazila with the initiative of a business magnate named Lyton Shikdar like the past years.
Both the district and police administrations of Bagerhat will take all the necessary steps so that Durga Puja can be celebrated in a peaceful and happy atmosphere throughout the district.
Sylhet Bureau says: Idol making is going on in almost every temple of Sylhet. Potters do not have time to catch their breath. They are working non-stop.
But till now the initial stage work from making the structure to covering the soil has been completed. Artists are trying to portray all the idols including Goddess Durga, Lakshi, Saraswati, Ganesha, Kartika, Asuras by mixing the sweetness of their mind.
Sagor Pal, the craftsman (potter) making the idols of Puja Mandab in Nimbark Ashrom in Sylhet Sylhet said, we are working with 3 people in each mandab. This time thay have taken up the task of making idols in 5 puja temples. We are charging 15 thousand to 22 thousand rupees for making idols in each mandab. Having to work day and night due to work pressure.
Ronjon Ghush, Secretary of Bangladesh Puja Celebration Parishad Sylhet District said, this year Puja will be celebrated in 456 mandavs in Sylhet district and 150 mandavs in Sylhet City. Ample instructions have been given to prevent any kind of music or dance from being performed in the mandavs. Hope the Puja celebration will be very joyful.
Sylhet District Superintendent of Police Abdullah Al Mamun said, to avoid any untoward incident around the puja celebrations, mrasures taken for strict security.
Kapasia (Gazipur) Correspondent reports : A preparation meeting was held on Wednesday for the upcoming Durga Puja celebration at Kapasia in Gazipur. Simeen Hussain Rimi MP, President of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Culture spoke as the Chief Guest in the preparatory meeting.
The meeting was presided over by UNO AKM Golam Morshed Khan in Upazila Parishad Auditorium. Among others, President of Upazila Awami League, former MP Bir Muktijoddha Alhaj¦ Muhammad Shahidullah, Assistant Commissioner (Land) Nazmul Hossain, Police Station Officer Incharge (OC) AFM Nasim, Upazila Parishad Vice President spoke among others. Chairman Md Asaduzzaman Asad, Women Vice Chairman Roshan Ara Sarkar, Project Implementation Officer Kohinur Rahman, Upazila Awami League General Secretary Mizanur Rahman Pradhan, Sadar UP Chairman and Upazila Jubo League President Sakhawat Hossain Pradhan, Hindu Boudhya, Christian Oikhra Parishad President Chitta Ranjan Saha, Puja celebration Parishad President Shekhar Chandra Saha, General Secretary Rajeev Ghosh and others were present there.
500 kg of rice has been distributed to each of the 65 pooja mandaps of 11 unions of the upazila as government donation.
BSS Rajshahi adds: Idol makers commonly known as Pauls are passing their busy days in making idols of Hindu deities ahead of Durga Puja festival in Rajshahi city and eight districts of the division.
With only 16 days left, the Pauls are working round the clock to make sure that the idols are ready in time.
The Pauls hope to earn better earnings this year as the number of Puja mandaps has increased in the region.
Kartik Chandra Paul, an idol maker of Alupotti Kumarpara area of the city said cost of raw materials including clay, rope, straw, bamboo and jute for idols have highly increased.
“Five to eight workers need 20-25 days for making a large idol while smaller ones need around two weeks each,” he added.
Kartik Paul, who has been involved in the idol-making profession for over 25 years, has made 30 idols in the last two months in the current season and has been working for seven more others at present. Taka 35,000 to 60,000 are spent for each of the idols, he said.
He said that about one hundred Paul groups of Rajshahi are now busy making idols for mandaps and they have already completed 80 per cent of the work of making the idols.
Swapon Ghosh, a devotee who supervises a puja mandap in Kumarpara area of the city, informed that preparations for the upcoming Durga Puja have become costlier due to high price of the raw materials as well as increased charges of idol makers, purohits and dhakis.
Shyamal Kumar Ghosh, Rajshahi city unit president of Puja Udjapan Parishad, told BSS that the Durga Puja will be celebrated in 96 Puja mandaps in Rajshahi metropolis and in 3,563 others in eight districts of Rajshahi division from October 1 to 5.
Around 1,000 idol makers are engaged in making idols for Durga Puja in the division.
Decorations of temples, lighting, and setting up of mandaps are expected to turn the city into a festive look within the next couple of days, Shyamal Ghosh added.
