Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday directed that permission for gathering at Motijheel, the country’s commercial hub, would not be given any more.
She gave the directive following violent protest by Hefajat-e-Islam, an Islamist outfit, after it was allowed to stage a rally at Shapla Square of the busy area on Sunday, officials said.
The Hefajat activists, who locked in deadly clashes with law enforcers, set fire on many shops at Baitul Mokkarram market and vandalised state-owned and private buildings at Purana Paltan area.
Hundreds of bankers and officials of different business houses had to sleep in their offices on Sunday night as activists clashed with law enforcers through the night.
Meanwhile, the ministry of finance is preparing the proposal to impose ban on gathering at Miotijheel commercial area to protect the business establishments against violence.
Finance minister AMA Muhith, who arrived in the capital on Monday afternoon from a visit to India, has already given verbal consent to the proposal.
The office of he Communists Party of Bangladesh, state-owned House Building and Finance Corporation, Ideal Products, a branch of Uttara Bank and state-owned Janata Bank at Purana Platan were badly damaged in Hefajat vandalism.
Besides, two booths of automated teller machines, one at GPO and other at Dainik Bangla, were demolished.
Meanwhile, finance ministry has asked state-owned banks and establishments to calculate the damages caused by vandalisms on Sunday.
The move has been taken as part of the government decision to compensate the owners of the affected business establishment.
The central bank, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Dhaka Stock Exchange
and the main branches of almost all commercial banks are located at Motijheel.
-with New Age input
