Reopening markets not mandatory: commerce minister

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi today said reopening markets is not mandatory for businesspeople.

"Owners who don't want to reopen shopping malls can keep those closed… Reopening market is not mandatory and there is no rigidity in this regard," he said at a press briefing held at the Secretariat while replying to questions from reporters.

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On Monday, the government announced that it will allow shops and shopping malls to remain open till 4:00pm every day, from May 10, maintaining health guidelines considering Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr.

The minister also said state-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will start selling onion at Tk 25 per kg from Saturday.

The government took the decision following a rise in onion prices in different markets with the start of Ramadan, Tipu Munshi said.

"There will be no crisis of daily essentials, at least in the next four months, as the government has taken necessary preparations. This year, TCB can provide better services as more goods have been stocked compared to the previous year," he said.

Claiming that the prices of daily essentials are at tolerable level, Tipu said, "Although the price of ginger had gone up, now it has come down as we imported it and is selling at Tk 150 per kg now."

Amid the ongoing coronavirus situation, dealers are selling goods from trucks at 500 points of the country, he said adding, "We've strengthened the monitoring system so that no irregularity can take place in any part of the country and the local administration is monitoring it."

Besides, four routes -- Hilli, Birol, Darshana and Benapole -- have been chosen for bringing goods from India through railway, he said.

The authorities have been asked to pay full salaries to garment workers who have joined work while 65 percent to those who have failed to join," he also said.