Hindus across the country are celebrating Mahalaya, the auspicious occasion that heralds the advent of Goddess Durga, on Saturday.

Considered as a ceremonial invocation of Goddess Durga, Mahalaya is observed a week prior to Durga Puja, the largest religious festival of the Hindu community.

Hindus believe the earth prepares itself and welcomes the coming of the Goddess and her children, through the celebrations.

Durga Puja will begin on October 20 on the day of Maha Shashthi.

On Mahalaya, the Mahanagar Sarbajanin Puja Committee arranged special programmes at Dhakeshwari Temple from 6am.

On this day, Hindus remember and pay homage to their deceased ancestors by performing a puja, and offering Brahmins clothes, food and sweets in their names.

This year there will be 32,407, Puja mandaps across the country, said Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Thursday requesting the country’s Hindu community to keep the number of Puja Mandops limited considering security issues.

Asaduzzaman said two lakh Ansar members will remain deployed at the Mandops and directives have been given to take special care instantly once calls from national emergency hotline services 999 would come.

The Puja committees have been asked to set up IP cameras along with CCTV cameras at the Mandops, he said, adding that directives were given for special surveillance so that rumours can’t be spread from Facebook and Youtube during the festival.

Moreover, there will be control rooms at police headquarters and all the districts to avoid unexpected incidents, he added.