Offices, industries to reopen tomorrow as govt relaxes curfew

• Offices, banks to remain open from 11am to 3pm
• Curfew to be relaxed from 10am to 5pm in Dhaka, Narayanganj, Narsingdi, Gazipur until Thursday
• Decision on curfew in other areas to be made by respective admins
• Stock market to run 3 hours
• Supreme Court to start office at 9am
• Industrial units will also reopen
• Import-export activities to resume
• Long-haul buses to resume services from morning, ticket sales already restart

Offices will reopen tomorrow across the country on limited scale after a five-day break that included three-day extended general holiday amid curfew enforced by the government to calm widespread unrest centring reform in quota system in public jobs.

The offices, including banks, will remain open from 11am to 3pm while stock markets will remain operational for three hours until 2pm.

Public Administration Minister Farhad Hossain came up with the announcement in Dhaka today (23 July).

Besides, other offices and industrial units will also reopen today, paving the way for resumption of import-export activities.

Transport owners also announced that they have decided to resume bus services including the long-haul ones.

The ongoing curfew, effective from Friday midnight, will be relaxed from 10am to 5pm today in the capital.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said the curfew will be relaxed from 10am to 5pm in Dhaka, Narayanganj, Narsingdi and Gazipur for Wednesday and Thursday. Other district administrations will decide on their own regarding the curfew in their respective areas.

Bangladesh Bank Spokesperson Md Mezbaul Haque told TBS that the banks will remain open from 11am to 3pm from Wednesday. The banks will operate normal banking activities during the period, he added.

Replying to query regarding online banking, the central bank spokesperson said, "The banks are supposed to get internet connections on priority basis as per the government decision. Online transactions will resume once the internet connection is restored."

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission Spokesperson Rezaul Karim told TBS that the stock market will remain open for transactions from 11am to 2pm.

According to the Supreme Court registrar office, the Appellate Division will remain open from 9am to 1:15pm while the High Court Division will operate from 10:30am to 4:15pm. Lower courts have been asked to decide their own timings after discussing with respective local administrations.

The government deployed the army and imposed the curfew effective from Friday midnight until 10am Sunday with two-hour break on Saturday. Later, the government extended the curfew with relaxing the restrictions for several hours every day. As the situation brought under control, the government yesterday decided to reopen offices and increase the curfew relaxation hours.

As the situation improved, the number of private cars, motorcycles, CNG-run auto-rickshaws increased in the capital's streets yesterday. Besides, an increased number of roadside shops was seen operating their activities.

Shushil Babu, counter master of Shyamoli NR Paribahan, told TBS that they resumed ticket sales for long-haul bus routes yesterday. "Some city buses plied the roads on Tuesday. Long-haul buses will start operating from Wednesday morning," he said.

In a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the country's top businessmen urged her to resume business activities including restoration of internet connections as soon as possible.

The PM assured them of reopening of business activities gradually once the situation becomes normal.

Some garment factories kept their factories open yesterday. Business activities started to become normal in divisions and districts as reported by correspondents.

Meanwhile, officers of Budget Analysis Wing at the Economic Relations Division attended office from 1pm to 5pm yesterday as part of their preparation regarding repayment of foreign loans and interest on scheduled 1 August.