Dhaka: With only three days left for Durga Puja, one of the biggest religious festivals of the Hindu community, city shopping malls are abuzz with a large number of customers looking for buying new dresses and lifestyle items.

Barring a few, city markets were seen more or less busy with selling their commodities as customers were moving from one shopping centre to another since morning. Thousands of people are purchasing items of their own choice with huge enthusiasm.

While visiting different shopping malls and footpaths in the capital today, this correspondent found that salesmen of different markets, footpaths and makeshift sales centers were bustling with shoppers.

"People of the Hindu community are crowding in the shopping mall to buy dresses, sharees or other items. We are passing busy time ahead of Puja," a shop owner at Bashundhara City Shopping Mall told BSS here today. 

Another shop manager of Bailey Road said sales showed an upward trend since the last couple of days with their spending busy time for selling all kinds of clothes, especially "Panjabi" and "shalwar". 

Badhon Datta, a customer at Dhaka New Market, said "I am purchasing clothes for my family members as our Durga Puja is knocking at the door. I have purchased dresses for my eight year old niece who lives in village home. She called me to buy the dress for her over phone."

The government has undertaken fool-proof security measures to ensure smooth holding of the forthcoming Durga Puja. 

"We have banned the use of crackers during the festivities of Durga Puja, starting next week. Law enforcers will be deployed for five days from the first day on September 26 at all Puja mandaps until the immersion on September 30," said Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, earlier.

The minister said the immersion of Durga's idol should be done from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm on the day of Bijoya Dashami. A total of 30,077 Puja Mandops will be set up by the Hindu Community this year, while 231 mandaps would be set up in Dhaka city, he added.