The Bangladesh Shop Owners Association wants to keep shops and shopping malls open from 10 am to 12 midnight a few days before Eid.
The Bangladesh Shop Owners Association, an association of traders, sent a letter to the Prime Minister's Office on Sunday (May 2) seeking permission. The organization's president Helal Uddin signed a letter to the Prime Minister's Chief Secretary Ahmed Kaikaus asking for permission.
In the letter, the shop owners' association says that even though the market and shops are open from 10 am to 8 pm during the ongoing lockdown, the shoppers usually break their fast at home after shopping between 3 pm and 5 pm. Because all the hotels and restaurants are closed, there is no opportunity to break the fast outside.
On the other hand, the private office is closed at 4 o'clock. They go to the market and shop till 5:30 pm. It can be seen that at this time the pressure of the buyers in the market increases and there is a huge crowd. Besides, it is 6 o'clock in the evening to go home and break the fast. Even though the market is open till 8 o'clock, no one comes to the market for one hour. As a result, there are no buyers in the market at this time.
The letter further said that experts on various talk shows have expressed the view that the market and shops will be open from 10 am to 12 midnight to reduce the congestion in the market from 3 pm to 5 pm. And buyers will have the opportunity to shop in normal time.
Earlier, traders were allowed to keep shops and shopping malls open from 10 am to 8 pm from April 9 subject to conditions. However, traders want to keep shops and shopping malls open from 10 am to 12 midnight ahead of the upcoming holy Eid-ul-Fitr.