TDS Desk:

Bank-insurance, the stock market, and many government and private institutions are being opened today after the Eid-ul-Azha holiday. At the same time, the schedule for government offices and banks has also been changed from today, Wednesday (June 19).

In the new schedule, government offices will be open from 9 am to 5 pm. Besides, bank transactions will start at 10 am and continue till 4 pm. However, the bank office will be open from 10 am to 6 pm.

The new rule states that banks will have weekends of Fridays and Saturdays.

Until now, bank transactions were done from 10 am to 3:30 pm. Besides, the banks’ office hours were from 10 am to 5 pm.

Eid-ul-Azha or Qurbani Eid, the second major religious festival for Muslim pilgrims, was celebrated on Monday (June 17). Thursday, June 13, was the last working day for government officials before Eid. A five-day holiday started on June 14 around Eid.

Government employees get public holidays on June 16, 17, and 18 (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday) on the occasion of Eid. However, there were two days of the weekend on June 14 and 15 (Friday and Saturday) before the Eid holiday. As a result, government officials and employees got leave from June 14 to 18.

The Cabinet meeting on June 3 decided on the new office schedule for all the government, semi-government, autonomous and semi-autonomous institutions of the country. The Cabinet decided that the new office schedule would come into effect from the first working day after the Eid holiday.

Cabinet Secretary Mahbub Hossain told reporters that the office hours from Sunday to Thursday will be from 9 am to 5 pm and weekends on Friday and Saturday. Sunday to Thursday, prayer and lunch break between 1 pm to 1:30 pm.

Earlier, government employees used to work from 9 am to 5 pm. The government has reduced the working hours from 24 August 2022 to save electricity amid the energy crisis and changed the schedule of offices and banks. As per that for more than two months, all government and autonomous offices will be open from 8 am to 3 pm.

All government and autonomous offices were open from 9 am to 4 pm from 15 November 2022, after more than two months of 8 am to 3 pm schedule. The schedule was in force till Eid.