Durga Puja will be celebrated at a record 964 pandals across Rangpur district and 818 venues in Khulna district this year, with elaborate idol displays drawing crowds and authorities stepping up security to ensure peaceful festivities.
In Rangpur, artisans are putting the finishing touches to idols as organisers decorate pandals ahead of the celebrations. The district will host celebrations at 964 pandals across the city and eight upazilas, the highest number recorded so far.
Of the total, 164 pandals are in Rangpur city’s 33 wards, 10 more than last year, while the remaining 800 are spread across the eight upazilas.
Taraganj has the highest number of pandals among the upazilas, with 165, followed by Mithapukur with 151, Badarganj with 125, Pirganj with 100, Gangachara with 99, Rangpur Sadar with 94, Pirgachha with 91 and Kaunia with 75.
The celebrations will feature devotional music, clothing and prasad distribution, arati competitions and processions marking Bijoya Dashami, said Advocate Prashanta Kumar Roy, general secretary of the Rangpur metropolitan committee of the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad.
Rangpur Superintendent of Police Mohammad Mozammel Haque said extensive security measures had been taken, with law enforcement personnel to be deployed before the festival begins. Police have held meetings with puja committees to coordinate security arrangements, while volunteers will assist law enforcement agencies at the pandals.
In Khulna, two temples in Dumuria Upazila have drawn particular attention for their elaborate displays featuring 201 and 152 idols.
The century-old Kharsang Kalibot Tala Sarbojonin Puja Temple in Kharsang village of Rudaghara Union has arranged 201 idols, while the Kharsang Mikshimil Sahapara Sarbojonin Puja Temple, near Mikshimil Bazar less than half a kilometre away, has created 152 idols.
The displays depict episodes from Hindu mythology and religious epics, including scenes from the Ramayana, stories of Lord Krishna, the nine forms of Goddess Durga and other religious figures.
Work on the idols began four months ago. Shimul Das, a sculptor from Satkhira, made 152 idols at the Sahapara temple for Tk3.5 lakh, while Abhilash Mondal created 201 idols at Kharsang for the same amount. Painting work is still underway, but visitors have already begun arriving in large numbers.
School students Tripti Roy, Chaiti Roy and Tapati Chowdhury said they had visited both temples before school to see the displays.
Subrata Sarkar, general secretary of the Kharsang temple, said the two venues had the largest idol displays in the area and were expected to attract substantial crowds. He added that the century-old temple had not received government assistance for its development.
Professor Kartik Chandra Saha, president of the Sahapara temple committee, said the annual celebration had continued peacefully for 52 years with donations from local devotees.
Durga Puja will be celebrated at 225 venues across Dumuria’s 14 unions, said Tutul Kundu, president of the Dumuria Upazila Puja Udjapan Front.
Khulna Superintendent of Police Sardar Omar Faruk said security arrangements had been made at all 818 venues across the district, including 89 designated as particularly important. Uniformed police will be deployed at every venue, alongside members of the Coast Guard, the SRB and plainclothes law enforcement teams. Banners displaying emergency contact numbers will also be placed at the venues.
Authorities in both districts have urged puja committees, law enforcement agencies and people from all communities to work together to ensure peaceful celebrations.