The five-day Sharadiya Durga Puja, the most sacred festival of the Hindu community, ended today with the immersion of the idols of Goddess Durga in the river Padma.
The last day rituals of the festival were celebrated amid much enthusiasmand festivity. 'Prasad' and sweets were distributed among the devotees as well as people belonging to other communities, who visited the Puja Mandaps.
Marking the Bijoya Dashami, women devotees were seen pasting vermillion (Sindur) on the forehead of Goddess Durga and among themselves amid a joyous and festive mood.
This year for the second consecutive time, the idols were taken to the river Padma, ponds, canals and other water bodies for immersion with special arrangements instead of any colourful procession, dancing and singing `kirton' due to the novel coronavirus COVID 19 pandemic.
However, thousands of devotees joined the ritual when the idols were being carried to the nearby rivers particularly from all mandaps or makeshift pavilions for immersion.
Additional security measures were arranged at all the immersion points. Divers of the Fire Service and Civil Defense were deployed there to avert any untoward incident.
Members of police, RAB, BGB and Ansar-VDP were on duty round-the-clock since the beginning of the Durga Puja festival.
Officials, politicians and leaders of different socio-cultural organizations including Rajshahi Mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton, Fazley Hossain Badsha, MP, and Commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police Abu Kalam Siddique visited different puja mandaps.
The Durga Puja was celebrated at 3,432 puja mandaps in all eight districts under the Rajshahi division in addition to 93 in Rajshahi city with special arrangements amid the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic situation.
Each of the puja mandaps was given five tonnes of rice on behalf of the respective district administrations for smooth celebration of the puja in the division this year.
Rajshahi City Corporation donated Taka 10,000 to each of the city's 74 puja mandaps for the successful celebration of the festival.