Seven days after reopening, the local administration closed down all the shopping malls at Ishwardi in Pabna from Monday for non-compliance with government guidelines and hygiene rules.
The directive was issued in a declaration signed by Pabna Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate Kabir Mahmud on Monday afternoon, to make the announcement effective from Tuesday.
Meanwhile, traders of Ishwardi Bazar staged demonstration in the morning demanding withdrawal of the declaration. Demonstrators marched from gate number one of the markets. They started chanting slogans to open the shop. Later the police came and dispersed them by charging them with sticks. 10-12 people were slightly injured.
After a long month and a half of closure amid the corona situation, the local administration conditionally allowed the market to reopen on May 10 on government instructions. From that day onwards, the market was open and traders were trading. However, suddenly on Monday afternoon the market was announced to be closed again.
Ariful Haque, a trader at Bangabandhu Super Market, said he is suffering from huge losses as the shop was closed for a month and a half. It was closed again before the loss was compensated.
The statement, signed by the district magistrate, said, “To curb the coronavirus spread, all shops, shopping malls and inter-upazila vehicles at district and upazila level except medicine, daily necessities and emergency services were ordered to be closed from May 16. Legal action will be taken against those who disobey the order.”
Meanwhile, after the protest, market traders met UNO Shihab Raihan of Ishwardi at his office. There they demanded to open their shop considering from humanitarian point of view. They promised UNO at the time that they would trade in accordance with hygiene and government guidelines.