Businesses at Bashundhara City shopping mall protest shop closure

Businesspeople of Bashundhara City formed a human chain in front of the shopping mall on Wednesday, the third day of the nationwide lockdown, to press home demand for reopening of their shops immediately.

A large number of shop owners and staffers formed the human chain in front of the multi-storied shopping mall this noon, urging the concerned authorities to allow them to reopen their shops ahead of the fasting month to begin from April 14.

The traders, while addressing the human chain, said they will incur huge losses if their shops remained closed just before a week of the month of Ramadan.

While talking to the Business Insider Bangladesh, Khalekuzzaman Kichlu, owner of a shop at the shopping mall, said they will be able to manage their livelihood if the authority allows them to reopen their shops.

“We are urging the government to realise our reality. The previous lockdown has eaten up everything. The lockdown has been imposed again. We are shouldering a burden of huge amount of loan for our survival. We will be pushed at the end of our existence if we are denied permission of reopening the shops,” he said.

The coronavirus will not be driven out of the country following the seven-day lockdown, he said adding, “Our prime minister has taken a courageous decision by resuming public transport in metropolitan cities. We will be benefited if we are allowed to reopen our shops maintaining health safety.”

He said it is not a justified move to keep shops, malls and markets shut when offices, factories and other sectors are open.

They continued their agitation until 12:30pm.

Besides, small traders and their employees of Eastern Plaza Shopping Complex also staged demonstration demanding permission to reopen their shops.

The traders feared incurring losses like the previous year due to the ongoing lockdown ahead of Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr.

The government imposed the seven-day nationwide lockdown on Monday in the context of the rising trend of both death and infection rates of coronavirus over the last couple of days.