Shops, markets to close by 8pm from Monday

The decision to close shopping malls, stores and kitchen markets across the country by 8pm every night will be implemented from Monday to save fuel and electricity.

State Minister for Labour Monnujan Sufian announced the decision at a meeting at the Secretariat in the capital on Sunday.

She also told the meeting that she would apprise Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of traders demand to keep markets open till 10pm from 1-10 July before Eid-ul-Adha.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Saturday (17 June) issued a notice ordering the closure.

The decision came from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to save energy amid the rampant price hike of fuel globally, according to the notice.

It urged all the concerned departments including law enforcement agencies to utilise provision 114 of the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 to enforce the decision.

The Prime Minister’s Office has recently given the directives to save electricity amid rising energy prices worldwide following the Russia-Ukraine war.