The second phase of 55th Biswa Ijtema, one of the largest Muslim congregations in the world, will begin on Friday on the bank of Turag River at Tongi.

Followers of Maulana Saad Kandhalvi will participate in the second phase. Already innumerable Muslim devotees have joined the Ijtema and many others are on the way to the annual congregation.

The Ijtema field is divided into 87 parts for the Muslim devotees of various districts. Of them, three parts were kept reserved. Besides, a living zone has been built for foreign devotees in the west-northern side of the Ijtema field.

The second phase of the Ijtema will end through ‘Akheri Munajat’ on 21 January (Sunday).

Sheikh Hasina said the government has taken different plans to create 52,000 hectares block garden in degraded forests and introduce mangroves in 63 hectares of land in the country’s coastal region under a project.

“We’ve also planned to distribute one crore saplings in current fiscal, marking the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,” she said._BSS.