About 50,000 law enforcers will be deployed at different points in and outside the capital to ensure security during Bangla New Year celebration, Pahela Baishakh, on April 14.

Festival goers are requested not to carry any luggage and avoid car parking in and around Ramna Park area where the city's main celebratory programmes are held.

A total of 14,000 law enforcers will keep vigil at Ramna Batamul, Dhaka University campus, Rabindra Sarobor and other spots in the city, while 30,000 others will be deployed across the country, Home Minister Shahara Khatun told a meeting at her secretariat office yesterday.

She also urged festival goers to take extra caution so that their children do not get lost in crowds, though a "centre for the lost and found" will be set up in Ramna Park.

Some 10 to 12 lakh people take part in the New Year celebration in the capital, Shahara said, adding that law enforcers would work in uniform and plain clothes on that day.

Asked if there is any militant threat on Pahela Baishakh, she replied negatively but asserted that law enforcers would keep always alert.

Home Secretary CQK Mustak Ahmed, Inspector General of Police Hassan Mahmud Khandakar, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Benazir Ahmed and the chiefs of other law enforcement agencies attended the meeting.

After the meeting, journalists asked the minister about the progress in the investigation into the murder of a journalist couple, but she denied talking on the issue.