Director General (DG) of Ansar and Village Defence Party (VDP) Major General Abdul Motaleb Sazzad Mahmud has said that 2,12,192 trained Ansar members will be deployed in 32,666 puja mandaps across the country to ensure security during the upcoming Durga Puja.
He said the Ansar members will be engaged for six days from Tuesday to October 13.
The chief of the Ansar said this at a press conference at the headquarters of the Ansar and VDP at Khilgaon in the capital on Saturday afternoon.
He said that considering the current situation in the country, Ansar members will be deployed to the puja mandaps categorized as highly important, important, and generally based on the evaluations of all security agencies and security risks.
The director general added that eight Ansar and VDP members will be deployed at highly important mandaps, six at important mandaps, and six at general mandaps. Additionally, a total of 53,148 Ansar and VDP members will work at 15,032 puja mandaps, identified as highly important and important, on Sunday and Monday.
This year, for the first time, Ansar will act as a striking force for puja security.
The Ansar chief said that in all 64 districts across the country, 92 teams of Ansar will function as mobile striking forces to address any emergency. Each team will consist of six members.
Major General Abdul Motaleb Sajjad Mahmud said that the Ministry of Home Affairs had issued directives to install CCTV cameras at each puja mandap. However, upon field investigation, it was found that many mandaps had not installed them yet.