Stores can stay open until 7pm, says state minister for energy
The Bangladesh government has decided to revise its previous fuel-saving directive, allowing stores, markets, and shopping malls to close at 7pm instead of 6pm.
The new decision was taken following a request from the Bangladesh Shop Owners Association, said State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Aninda Islam Amit.
“As a result, stores can stay open until 7pm.”
The cabinet decided last Thursday that stores, markets and shopping malls could remain open from 9am to 6pm. However, wet markets, drug stores, hotels, restaurants and emergency services could remain open outside these restrictions.
The business community objected to the government order.
The Bangladesh Shop Owners Association then requested the prime minister to allow shops to open at 11am instead of 9am on Friday and remain open until 8 pm.
State Minister Amit said, “The Shop Owners Association had requested us to allow shops to remain open until 7pm. Although the decision in the cabinet meeting was until 6pm, the honourable prime minister later re-evaluated the Shop Owners’ Association’s request and decided to extend it until 7pm.”
He also urged people to stay aware of how to save power and energy at their homes and workplaces.
Regarding the availability of diesel to farmers, the state minister said: “The district administration has been given clear instructions – they must ensure that farmers are not deprived in any way. The deputy commissioner, BPC, and MDs of the Padma, Meghna, and Jamuna companies have been told.”
State Minister Amit also said that the government has given instructions to coordinate field officials to ensure allocation according to demand.
He said, “I have learnt from talking to the Department of Agriculture that the demand will be at its peak until the 15th of April. After that, the demand will continue to decrease. Of course, everyone is suffering. There has been an abnormal increase in fuel prices all over the world… The government has not considered adjusting the price of fuel oil so that farmers in Bangladesh should not be affected in any way. In this case, farmers should not have difficulty getting diesel.”
