Staff Reporter :
The government on Monday decided to reschedule all the government and autonomous offices hours from 8:00am to 3:00pm and banking hours from 9:00am to 4:00pm aiming to reduce working hours with a view to saving electricity consumption and ease traffic.
Apart from this, all educational institutions in the country will remain closed two days a week amid the ongoing power crisis.
The decision was taken at the regular Cabinet meeting held at Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. The premier joined the meeting virtually from her official residence Ganobhaban while other Cabinet members joined from Secretariat’s Cabinet meeting room of the Cabinet Division.
“The new office hours would be effective from Wednesday,” said Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam while briefing media after the meeting at the Secretariat.
Banks across the country will remain open from 9am to 4pm daily to save electricity. The new timings for banks will come into effect also from Wednesday, he added.
The educational institutions will have two weekly holidays — Friday and Saturday — as well, he said, adding that the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education issued a notice in this regard on Monday.
The directorate also asked the Universities to take necessary steps on their own accord.
In the meeting, the Cabinet also asked the power, energy and mineral resources ministry to ensure the uninterrupted electricity supply in the rural areas from midnight to dawn for the next 10 to 15 days so that the irrigation is not hampered to ensure production of Aman crops properly.
The Cabinet directed the government offices to remove curtains from the offices to get natural lights as well as to use air conditioners as little as possible to cut electricity consumption, said Anwarul Islam.
In the meeting, the Bangladesh Bank Governor also declared the new office hours for the banks, he added.
The Cabinet Secretary hoped that the decisions (new office hours and two-day weekly holiday in educational institutions) would help saving electricity and easing traffic congestion.
Earlier, the government had said that it is planning to reduce office hours and introduce virtual office to save electricity.
The government had decided to halt production of all the diesel-run power plants — which provide some 2.79 per cent of the country’s electricity — currently in operation across the country until further notice. It also decided to keep fuel stations closed for a day every week in a bid to tackle the ongoing power and energy crisis.
