Nationwide dawn-to-dusk strikes on four straight days have left the country’s businesses reeling under huge losses. Chittagong trade body leaders said businesses running at a low ebb might hinder timely payment of the salaries and festival bonuses to the workers ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr as factory production and shipments of goods had remained suspended during these four days, reports New Age Chittagong Correspondent.
‘Chittagong incurs losses worth Tk 500 crore during every hartal while the nation incurs losses worth Tk 2,000 crore,’ said Chittagong Chambers of Commerce and Industry director Mahfujul Haque Shah.
‘And if it’s during Ramadan, the losses soar,’ he added.
‘Plying of goods-laden vehicles from indoor container depot remains suspended during the strikes, which may fuel price hike,’ said Mahfujul.
The worst victims of the shutdown are the garments factory owners as their imported raw materials cannot reach their destination from the Chittagong port due to shortage of required vehicles. On the other hand, the shipments of produced goods get stuck for the same reason during hartal, he added.
Custom House Chittagong sources said they had decided to continue their activities on holidays to minimise the losses caused by hartal.
The shopping malls in the port city also witnessed a low turn up due to the strikes.
The strikes also had an adverse impact on trade activities in Khulna as sale of essential commodities both in the wholesale market and at the retail shops was very low, adds a Staff Correspondent in Khulna.
Md Shamim Sheikh, owner of a readymade garment products shop at a Khulna shopping mall, said that he had taken a loan of Tk 5 lakh from a bank and a multipurpose company for doing brisk business during the festive period, but the strikes did not do his cause any good.
Hundreds of traders in Khulna city will be losing their capital investment if such political unrests continue, said Khulna Chambers of Commerce and Industry president Kazi Aminul Huq.
As the strikes are hampering transportation of fish and vegetables to city markets, prices in the kitchen markets are also soaring high, added the KCCI president.
Md Saidul Islam, owner of a cloth shop at New Narket, said sale was very low as women, being his major customers, neither did come during the hartal hours nor did they come in the evening as picketers had hurled bombs in the New Market area on Monday evening.
-With New Age input
