Strikes, blockades do it
Commercial party centres have suffered huge financial losses in the last few months due to ongoing political turmoil, businessmen said Monday.
A number of owners said nearly 200 party centres in Dhaka city are now facing the biggest blow in their business operations this season as even operating costs of the centres cannot be managed.
Most of the customers have cancelled their bookings due to prevailing political violence and security reasons, they said.
Manager of the Ananda Bhaban at Naya Paltan area in Dhaka city Shamsur Rahim said: “December is the peak month for our business. But this time we have faced severe setbacks.”
“We have had booking for 30 parties in December. Almost all of those are now cancelled. We could organise only one wedding party Friday last. There is no more booking for the remaining days of the month,” he told the FE.
Mr Rahim said their monthly turnover was nearly Tk 10 million on an average. This has now gone down to Tk 0.10 million.
He said they have already cut jobs of three staffs out of total 10 regular employees due to steep plunge in business over the last few months amid blockades and strikes.
The Ananda Bhaban Manager said: “Many wedding parties were booked by the non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs). The NRBs select December as the best time for their parties due to long vacations on the occasion of Christmas and New Year celebrations. But the violent political situation has forced them to drop the idea of organising such parties. This ultimately affected our business seriously.”
According to the businessmen, the commercial party centres usually arrange wedding, birthday, marriage day, get-together, and reunion functions offering their spaces, catering services and other related facilities for the guests.
“Three months back, I booked a party centre at Dhanmondi for celebrating my wedding on December 28. But I have it now cancelled because of the present political situation,” said Masumur Rahman, a newly- married banker, told the FE.
Zakir Hossain, owner of the city’s Priyanka Community Centre, said nearly 500 party centres across the country have been affected severely due to political violence.
“The November-January period is the peak time for the party centres. During this time, the centres usually have a business turnover of Tk 5.00 billion. But this year it will drop drastically.”
Our business is in such a vulnerable condition that we even can’t pay the rent of the building, Mr Hossain, also General Secretary of Bangladesh’s community centres’ association, told the FE. “We would meet the finance minister and would seek stimulus package for at least three months from the government to overcome the present crisis in our business,” he added.
Supervisor of the Hiltown Convention Community Centre at the capital’s Shyamoli area Shakhawat Hossain said the last two months were the worst time for their business as booking of many wedding and birthday parties was cancelled.
“In the winter season, we usually arrange 15 to 20 parties per month. But this time we could arrange only 2-3 parties a month because of the political turmoil. We don’t know how we will run our business,” Kazi Mahbubur Rahman, owner of the Hiltown Convention Centre said.
He said they need huge operating costs for their party centres including salaries of the regular and seasonal staffs. “But booking for parties was canceled one after another. How will we run our business? Why will we pay the price for the battle of the two major political parties?”.
Mr Rahman said we have six regular employees and nearly 40 occasional staffs for arranging any kind of parties in the centre. “But now we have told the seasonal staffs to find other jobs as the centre is running without any business.”
Courtesy of The Financial Express
