Holiday hangover still persists

FE Report | Published: July 21, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

The capital city is still in holiday mood, although three-day Eid-ul-Fitr vacation ended on Sunday.
Attendance in offices at the Bangladesh Secretariat and commercial hub in Motijheel and Dilkusha areas was thin on Monday, the first working day after the Eid-ul-Fitr vacation. This year Eid-ul-Fitr, the largest religious festival of the Muslims, was celebrated in the country on Saturday.
There was a three-day public holiday from Friday on the occasion of Eid.
Most of the shopping malls remained closed while a few number of shops in the city's kitchen markets in different areas remained open, but sale of their commodities was insignificant, shopkeepers said.
They said incessant rain that has been continuing since Thursday is severely disrupting the normal activities and hampering their business.
"I sold commodities worth Tk 40,000 on Thursday last. But the volume of sale is only around Tk 2,500 until this (Monday) afternoon," Md Abul Kalam, a grocery shop trader told the FE at Fakirapool Bazar on Monday.
The Bangladesh Secretariat, the bastion of public administration, witnessed poor presence of government employees on the first working day after Eid-ul-Fitr vacation.
Visiting different ministries, this correspondent found poor presence of government employees in different sections of the ministries.
The officials were seen passing time exchanging Eid greetings with each other.
"The first working day after Eid vacation usually sees less attendance of government officials. Incessant rains for the last few days also affected attendance," a joint secretary of the ministry of food told the FE.
Attendance at the secretariat was less than 50 per cent. Many officials took additional three or four-day leave this year as two days of the three-day vacation coincided with the weekly holiday. The number of leave applicants was higher this year than that of last year, according to public administration ministry sources.
However, Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, Home Minister Asaduzzman Khan KamaL exchanged Eid greetings with officials and employees on Monday morning.
Though the banks (public and private) and insurance companies and brokerage houses reopened on Monday, there was small transactions due to poor presence of clients. Most of the bank employees were found exchanging Eid greetings with each other and sitting idle and gossiping with their colleagues.
A senior officer of Agrani Bank head office at Motijheel said many officials took three-day leave after the Eid vacation. He said internal transaction was lower after the vacation, but transaction at foreign exchange branches was comparatively better.
"Some officials took leave on the occasion of Eid. But the workforce required to provide service was present at Bangladesh Bank," a source in the central bank told the FE.
Only few vehicles along with people were plying city roads. A large number of city dwellers went to their village home to celebrate Eid, but they are yet to return to Dhaka.
Due to continuous rain, parks and amusement centres wore deserted look since most of city dwellers could not visit thee places with their family members.
"Rain had disrupted our business. We expected that we could do good business during the Eid vacation. But rain has shattered all our hopes," Md Sattar, a vendor in front of Shishu Park at Shahbagh told the FE Monday afternoon.
Normalcy will return to Dhaka (capital city) next week (From Sunday) once they come back to the city, according to observers.
talhabinhabib@yahoo.com