BSS, Dhaka :
The capital city, Dhaka, is slowly returning to its usual business after the three-day vacation for Eid-ul-Fitr, but the holiday mood appears to prevail in businesses at least for this week.
People, who left Dhaka city last week for celebrating the Eid at their hometowns and village homes with their relatives and neighbours, started returning to the city, braving the monsoon rain that was heavy at times in many places.
The traffic that remained considerably thin in the days of vacation increased somewhat as people began to return from their hometowns and villages.
Most of the shopping malls remained closed when some markets including the super-shops opened on the day after Eid, but those continued to wear a deserted look. It seemed that most of the businesses might resume their operations at the start of the new week on Sunday next.
Alam, a fruit vendor on the footpath beside the Bangladesh House Building Corporation (BHBC), told BSS that he opened his shop in the morning, but saw only a few customers till mid-day. He expected that normal businesses would resume in earnest only by Sunday.
A vegetable vendor, Rafiq in the city’s Shegunbagica kitchen market was waiting for customers with some different types of vegetables.
He said the supply in the city’s whole market like Karwan Bazar was scanty because of the holiday and the monsoon rain. Most of the essential commodities, however, were traded at their previous rates owing to lower demand.
“Although we opened our shop, it is unlikely that we are going to have enough supply and customers before the start of the next week,” he said.
Serving a few number of customers at the super-shop, Shawpna, a checkout operator said they had good business before Eid, and opened the shop on Sunday for limited hours.
All the scheduled banks opened Monday when staffs spent the post-Eid holiday times in exchanging greetings and attending a few number of clients.
Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) remained closed on Monday as the authorities declared a six-day holiday from July 15 to 20 for Shab-e-Qadr and Eid-ul-Fitr. Trading and all the official activities at the two bourses will resume on Tuesday when the trading hours will be 10-30am to 2-30pm and office hours will be 9-30am to 5-30pm.
The scenario at the city’s big-name restaurants, including the international fast food outlets and movie theaters, recreational parks and museums were different during the Eid holidays. These places and facilities stayed open throughout the holidays when many city dwellers went their despite on and off rain.
A good number of restaurants and amusement parks also offered special rates and services for a nominal charge.
The public transport operators, however, used the holidays to fleece passengers by increasing fares.
“We are working during Eid holidays to serve the people who don’t have any other option than the public transports. The job is quite hard as we had to leave our family back home when we were supposed to be for the Eid,” said Shahidul, who drives a bus on Dhaka-Narayanganj route.
Regarding higher fares, he said this is the only time of the year when people pay us some extra willingly.
The capital city, Dhaka, is slowly returning to its usual business after the three-day vacation for Eid-ul-Fitr, but the holiday mood appears to prevail in businesses at least for this week.
People, who left Dhaka city last week for celebrating the Eid at their hometowns and village homes with their relatives and neighbours, started returning to the city, braving the monsoon rain that was heavy at times in many places.
The traffic that remained considerably thin in the days of vacation increased somewhat as people began to return from their hometowns and villages.
Most of the shopping malls remained closed when some markets including the super-shops opened on the day after Eid, but those continued to wear a deserted look. It seemed that most of the businesses might resume their operations at the start of the new week on Sunday next.
Alam, a fruit vendor on the footpath beside the Bangladesh House Building Corporation (BHBC), told BSS that he opened his shop in the morning, but saw only a few customers till mid-day. He expected that normal businesses would resume in earnest only by Sunday.
A vegetable vendor, Rafiq in the city’s Shegunbagica kitchen market was waiting for customers with some different types of vegetables.
He said the supply in the city’s whole market like Karwan Bazar was scanty because of the holiday and the monsoon rain. Most of the essential commodities, however, were traded at their previous rates owing to lower demand.
“Although we opened our shop, it is unlikely that we are going to have enough supply and customers before the start of the next week,” he said.
Serving a few number of customers at the super-shop, Shawpna, a checkout operator said they had good business before Eid, and opened the shop on Sunday for limited hours.
All the scheduled banks opened Monday when staffs spent the post-Eid holiday times in exchanging greetings and attending a few number of clients.
Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) remained closed on Monday as the authorities declared a six-day holiday from July 15 to 20 for Shab-e-Qadr and Eid-ul-Fitr. Trading and all the official activities at the two bourses will resume on Tuesday when the trading hours will be 10-30am to 2-30pm and office hours will be 9-30am to 5-30pm.
The scenario at the city’s big-name restaurants, including the international fast food outlets and movie theaters, recreational parks and museums were different during the Eid holidays. These places and facilities stayed open throughout the holidays when many city dwellers went their despite on and off rain.
A good number of restaurants and amusement parks also offered special rates and services for a nominal charge.
The public transport operators, however, used the holidays to fleece passengers by increasing fares.
“We are working during Eid holidays to serve the people who don’t have any other option than the public transports. The job is quite hard as we had to leave our family back home when we were supposed to be for the Eid,” said Shahidul, who drives a bus on Dhaka-Narayanganj route.
Regarding higher fares, he said this is the only time of the year when people pay us some extra willingly.
