The largest festival of Hindus of Bangladesh Durgapuja will be celebrated all over the country in 30,225 mandaps this year. The information was shared by the General Secretary of the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad Nirmal Kumar Chatterjee, reports the official news agency BSS.

This year the number of mandaps has declined by 1173 due to the Corona pandemic. Last year Puja was organised across 31,398 mandaps across the country. In Dhaka alone, 233 Puja mandaps will be holding the Durga Puja this year. Last year,  the capital city had 237 mandaps for Durga Puja.

The five day long Sharadiya Durgotsab will begin with ‘Kalparambho’ on October 22 when the face of the deity will be unveiled on Maha Panchami. The festival will end with the immersion of idols on October 26. 

The General Secretary of Puja Udjapan Parishad said that the mandaps will observe all the health guidelines and other directives issued by the government. 

Earlier this week, the government had instructed the organisers of the Durga Puja to observe certain health guidelines during the festival. It mandated wearing of masks, social distancing and arrangement of handwashing and sanitisers for the people visiting the mandaps. It also prohibited the Shobhajatra during the immersion of the idols.