Holiday mood continues as offices reopen

As thousands of home goers left the capital on Eid vacation, Dhaka gets a relaxed look. This snap was taken yesterday at Sonargaon intersection, one of the city's busiest points.
Photo: Anisur Rahman

The government, semi-government and private offices including banks and financial institutions reopened with very low attendance of staffs yesterday after the three-day Eid holiday and the weekend.
Attendance at the Secretariat, the administrative hub of the country, was also very thin as more than half of the officers and employees did not turn up. Many ministers were also absent.
"About 30 to 40 percent staffs joined offices yesterday," said an employee at the home ministry, adding many of them were latecomers.
"The attendance will also be low today as it is the last office day of the week." It would not be normal before next week as another public holiday is due for the Durga Puja on Monday, he added.
Among the ministers who attended office were Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shafique Ahmed and Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister GM Quader.
However, several other ministers joined office in the afternoon.
There were little activities at the offices as the officials and employees were seen exchanging Eid greetings with their colleagues amid a festive mood. The same situation prevailed at private offices as well.
Earlier, the government and private offices, banks and other offices and business establishments went into holiday on Friday, while the three days of Eid vacation started on Sunday.
With the city dwellers went to the native places to celebrate the occasion with their near and dear ones, the city streets became almost empty with very low traffic movement. Another reason of little movement of commuters was the rain since the Eid day.
This year the official holiday for the Eid-ul-Fitr was three days following four-day vacation for three consecutive years.
Meanwhile, the normal office schedule (9:00am to 5:00pm) resumed yesterday after it was curtailed for the month of Ramadan.