Chhayanaut and the attendees who came to celebrate the Bengali New Year observed a minute of silence at Ramna Batamul to protest the genocide in Gaza and express solidarity with Palestine.
This silence was observed at around 8:40 am on Monday (April 14). Then, the New Year's celebration was concluded by performing the national anthem.
Earlier, leaving behind the sorrows, pains, mistakes, and errors of the old year, the arrangement to welcome the Bengali New Year began with joy and festivities from the morning.
In the Chhayanaut performance on a 72-feet long and 30-feet wide stage, a total of one and a half hundred students participated in five phases. The entire Ramna grounds echoed with solo and choral songs.
On this day, at 6:15 am, the New Year's celebration began with a Raga Alap in Bhairavi at Ramna Batamul as soon as the morning light broke. There were a total of 24 performances at Batamul in this event. Among them, there were 9 choral songs, 12 solo songs, and three recitations. Sarwar Ali, executive president of Chhayanaut, recited the New Year's narrative.
Meanwhile, to welcome the Bengali New Year 1432, the traditional 'New Year Joy Procession' was taken out from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Dhaka University with the theme 'New Year's Harmony, End of Fascism'. Thousands of people participated in this procession, which started at 9 am.
Earlier, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Sheikh Md. Sazzad Ali said that the administration is on high alert to ensure security centering on Pohela Boishakh. He instructed that for the sake of security, participation in the procession from anywhere is not allowed this year.
Dhaka Metropolitan City has been divided into 21 sectors to ensure security centering on the Bengali New Year celebration, and adequate numbers of uniformed and plainclothes police members have been deployed. Besides, important establishments are being swept with dog squads. There are barricades at 21 places, including Ramna Park and Suhrawardy Udyan.
At the entrance of each event venue, searches are being conducted with archways and hand metal detectors. The routes to the event venue and the procession are being constantly monitored with CCTV cameras, still and video cameras, and drones. There will be sufficient foot patrols around the event. In addition to CTTC and SWAT, adequate numbers of uniformed and plainclothes police members will be deployed.
