One day weekly off again

After nearly one and a half decades, Bangladesh is going to to revert the weekly off to one instead of two.

The move comes amid growing concerns by the businesses over the reduced number of working days due to continuous general strikes in recent months.

A highly placed source told bdnews24.com a proposal to this end had been sent to the Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday.

“The Prime Minister is expected to sign the order any moment,” the source preferring anonymity said.

Speaking to bdnews24.com, the source said the move aimed at recovering losses inflicted due to continuous strikes in recent times.

Once approved, the Ministry of Public Administration will issue a gazette notification to this effect, the source added.

The government service holders will then be able to enjoy their weekends on Fridays only.

Amid general strikes, the government has already ordered bank branches to operate on Saturdays to recover losses incurred as a result of the shutdowns.

After independence, Bangladesh only had one weekly holiday on Sunday. Initially during Ershad’s regime Friday and Saturday were weekend holidays only to be reverted to Friday.

During the Awami League government’s 1996-01 tenure, the government reinstated the Friday-Saturday weekends.

Businesses have been complaining against a Friday-Saturday weekend because Sunday is a holiday in other countries and that creates problems for trading.