Daylong rain disrupted normal life in the district yesterday, preventing people from going to the temples on the occasion of Durga Puja, the biggest festival ofBangali Hindus.

All 417 temples in five upazilas of the district saw very few visitors all day, though they were crowded with thousands of people last year.

Prema Chandra Barmon, 42, a devotee of Sadhutari Durga temple in Sadhutari village, said he and his family members visited different Durga temples last year, but they did not go out yesterday due to rain.

Shankar Chandra Chakrabarty, a priest of the district's central temple Sree Sree Kalibari Durga Mandir in Lalmonirhat town, said 7,000 to 8,000 devotees from different areas visited the temple on this day last year, but there was no visitor yesterday. “Even temple committee members were not interested in going out of their houses for doing normal work," he added.

Mohor Ali, a sweetmeat shop owner in the town, said he had prepared a big quantity of sweetmeats, but didn't get a single customer. "1 sold sweetmeats worth Tk 30,000 on the occasion last year, " he added.

Rickshaw puller Delowar Hossain said he did not get even one passenger yesterday, though he had earned Tk 1,000 last year on this day.

President of District Puja Udjapan Parishad in Lalmonirhat Prodip Chandra Roy said a huge amount of money had been spent for decorating 417 Durga temples in the district only for attracting visitors, but the rain spoiled everything.