Different business associations, especially shop owners, workers and small businessmen took to the streets of Dhaka demanding keeping their businesses open during the lock-down.
They pointed out that most of the small traders who depend on daily earning have been hit hard by the week-long public movement restrictions (lockdown) that began on Monday to reduce and control transmission of the deadly coronavirus.
Although the ban has given the opportunity to keep the factories and industries open, it has imposed relatively stricter restrictions on traders with less capital including street shops, vendors, restaurants and grocery shops.
Meanwhile, a limited number of offices and banks have been kept open while the small traders are facing many difficulties for closing their businesses.
On the other hand, traders outside the capital have taken to the streets demanding that shops be kept open.
Hotels and restaurants will remain open, according to a circular issued by the government. However, customers would not be allowed to sit and eat food inside the hotels, the circular also read.
Even if it is kept open to a limited extent, the operating cost including the salary of the employees will not be reduced.
Talking to restaurant traders, it was learned that due to this restriction of the government, the sales could drop by 60-70 percent compared to normal day transactiions.
An average of 30 employees has work in a medium quality restaurant in Dhaka city. At present there are around eight thousand restaurants in the city. Hundreds of thousands of workers are engaged in this sector who face income crisis due to the lockdown imposed again.
Khandaker Ruhul Amin, President of Bangladesh Restaurant Owners Association (BROA), said “When we are just starting to recover from the losses incurred during the first wave of the corona attack last year, there is this fresh lockdown which would badly affect our industry, especially those who work on daily payment basis.”
Amin suggested that the government allow customers to come and eat in the restaurants or hotels maintaining health safety rules including maintaining physical distance.
“It is not practical to opt for take-away food by the customers themselves and eat at home. Majorities of the customers depend on eating in restaurants and even in roadside hotels for their daily meals,” Amin pointed out.
The government has said all types of shops, including shopping malls, will remain closed. However, products can be sold online.
According to the Bangladesh Shop Owners Association (BSOA), the number of registered shops in the capital is about four and a half lakhs.
Only a handful of companies have the capability to sell products online. There are more than hundred and fifty shopping malls in the city alone.
Due to the closure of shops and shopping malls, about 15 to 20 lakh workers, associated with working in these establishments, will have to stay unemployed which could turn chaotic.
It is learned that the cost of renting a shop in a medium quality shopping mall, salaries of employees, gas-water-electricity bills range from Tk 2,00,000 to Tk 3,00,000 per month. Even if the shops remain closed, the occupant or the tenant would still have to pay the rent.
Helal Uddin, President of the Bangladesh Shop Owners Association, said, “If the book fair could be kept open, why not the shops? I have tried to convince officials high up in the government to consider keeping the shops open at least for a few hours to allow daily income but nothing seems to be working.”
He said that last time there was literally no sale on the occasion of ‘Pohela Boishakh’ and two Eid festivals. “We were hoping to make up for the losses this time by keeping the shops open and allow buying.”
Meanwhile, traders have been protesting in New Market area of the capital for the third consecutive day demanding keeping the shops open everyday.
Traders and shopkeepers staged a protest rally in front of Chandni Chowk Shopping Complex from 10 am to 1 pm on Tuesday.
The protesting traders demanded that the market be kept open at certain times of the day in compliance with the hygiene rules.
