Home adviser retired Lieutenant General Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury on Monday said that members of the law enforcing agencies would be put on round-the-clock surveillance at 33,000 puja mandaps to be set up across the country to ensure peaceful celebrations of Durga Puja, the largest religious festival of the Hindus in Bangladesh.
About 3 lakh Ansar members, as well as police and members of the other law enforcement agencies, will be deployed at the puja mandaps, he said while briefing journalists after a meeting on security and law and order before Durga Puja, held at the secretariat in the capital Dhaka.
The Durga Puja festival will begin in the last week of September.
Jahangir also said that a new app had been developed to enable prompt action in case of any untoward incidents and to help check rumours.
The adviser asked the organisers involved in the arrangements to keep three individuals at each mandap during the day and four at night to ensure round-the-clock surveillance.
Ansar personnel will be stationed at the puja mandaps to ensure foolproof surveillance and avert any untoward incidents, he said.
Police and Ansar, members of Rab, the armed forces, and Border Guard Bangladesh will be tasked with ensuring peaceful celebrations of Durga Puja across the country, he added.
The BGB will be responsible for the puja mandaps in border areas, while Ansar personnel will be deployed at puja mandaps across Bangladesh.
The adviser also said members of the Hindu community had not expressed any concerns or fears regarding the forthcoming Durja Puja celebrations.
Jahangir also said, 鈥楴o fairs will be allowed around the puja mandaps as such events are often associated with gatherings of alcohol and marijuana addicts.鈥�
One or two shops may be set up around the puja mandaps only upon permission from the celebration committees, he said.
He urged all concerned to ensure that the deity immersion be concluded by 7:00pm.