About 20 lakh people offered Jum'a prayers at the Ijtema venue yesterday. Maolana Qwari Zobayer, Imam of Kakrail Mosque, led the prayers and also translated the 'khutba' (special sermon).

Sermons were delivered on Kalema, Iman, Namaj, Elem, Zikir, Iklamur Muslemin, Tablig and other fundamental issues.

State Minister for Home Lutfozzaman Babar, Awami League Presidium Member Tofail Ahmed, AL lawmaker Zahid Ahsan Russell, BNP lawmaker Nasir Uddin Ahmed Pintu, Home Secretary Safar-raj, Inspector General of Police Abdul Quiyum, among others, took part in the prayers.

Maolana Shamim Ahmed and Maolana Zubayer Hasan of Delhi, Maolana Abdul Wahab of Pakistan, and Nurul Rahman and Maolana Zubayer Hossain of Bangladesh preached special sermons.

Hundreds of people made temporary shelters outside the main canopy built for the devotees. Scholars on Islam from home and abroad gave bayans [sermons] all day yesterday.

BDNEWS from Tongi reports: Two persons, including an unidentified woman, died of cardiac arrest on the Ijtema ground yesterday.

One was identified as Nazir Hossain, 50, of Motijheel in the city. He suffered a heart attack yesterday morning. An unidentified woman died in the evening.

Earlier on Wednesday, a devotee from abroad died of a heart attack.

The law enforcers yesterday held 13 Myanmar nationals from the Ijtema ground for entering the Bangladesh territory without legal papers, but released them later.

Besides, 11 people were arrested for theft and mugging at the Ijtema ground and handed over to Tongi police.

On the first day of Ijtema, sermons highlighting the teachings of Islam went on for all day with breaks for prayers. Apart from listening to the bayans, the devotees offered prayers to Allah, standing amid a huge jamaat [gathering].

"It's something otherworldly to say prayers [namaj] alongside so many devotees," said Naimuddin, who travels all the way from Noakhali to attend the Ijtema almost every year.

Hundreds of people wandered back and forth with luggage to find some room under the canopy. "My fellow travellers have gone in different directions to search for shelter," said Akkas Ali yesterday afternoon. He just arrived there with some 50 others from Rajshahi.

People, however, did not complain much about the management or the basic amenities arranged for them at the venue. "The water, sanitation and security seem far better than those over the past few years," said Adil Ahmed, a businessman from Khulna.

Mobile courts with about 20 magistrates patrolled round the clock the areas adjacent to the canopies. They also raided the makeshift restaurants and shops installed for the congregation. Magistrate Gopal Chandra Shil yesterday told The Daily Star that he found the situation 'satisfactory.'

"Visiting the adjacent areas, I found that the food is of good enough quality," he said. Some of the vendors were selling rotten fruits but the courts took instant action, compelling them to get rid of those, he said, adding that he himself had seized some sub-standard weighing scales.

Over 200 devotees received treatment at Tongi 50-bed Hospital and hundreds of people took treatment and medicines free of cost at the medical camps set up for Ijtema.

"Most of the patients are suffering from diarrhoea, food poisoning, cold and some other minor problems," said a doctor providing free treatment. "If anyone comes to us in a critical condition, we refer them to hospitals," he added.

The Ijtema organisers, like the previous years, have arranged solemnising marriages without dowry, scheduled to take place tomorrow.

Vehicular movements on the roads approaching the Ijtema ground have been restricted from 6:00am to 6:00pm. The authorities have requested the Ijtema goers to walk to the ground from the airport area.