Breaches of social distancing and health safety guidelines are rampant at shopping malls in Dhaka, despite the issuance of the government directive to strictly follow the safety protocol to contain Covid-19 transmission.
The government on April 9 allowed markets and shopping malls to reopen amid a nationwide lockdown, following the protests of shop owners and businessmen. As per the instructions of the government, shopping-malls and stores can stay open from 9am till 5pm until April 13 - given that health guidelines are strictly maintained.
On visits to several shopping malls in the capital on Sunday, this reporter found malls packed with crowds, and many people were seen not wearing masks properly.
Abdur Rahim, a security guard at Bashundhara City shopping mall, said: “It was very crowded yesterday [Saturday]. Even today is crowded in comparison to a normal Sunday. People could not shop last year, so they are buying as much as they can this year.”
Shaon Mia, a sales executive at a Titan outlet, told Dhaka Tribune that people generally did not appear to be afraid of coronavirus, and crowds are not bad at all compared to last year’s lockdown.
He also said clothing stores were drawing more crowds now as Pohela Boishakh is just around the corner, and Eid-ul-Fitr is just over a month away.
However, Motaleb Howlader, sales executive at an outlet of clothing store Yellow, said crowds are still much smaller than they were before the pandemic.
“Those who come now buy things in big batches. Our Eid collection has not arrived yet, but people are buying the old stock,” he added.
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Dulal Mollah, a security guard at an Aarong outlet, said: "I can see the crowds as well as you can. We try to tell them to keep their distance from one another, but they do not listen to us.”
Abdullah Al Mamun, manager of the Aarong outlet, said: “We took various initiatives to try to follow health guidelines, but none of them is working. Also, since the government has reduced the shopping time, more people are coming to the shop, which makes it difficult for us to control the crowd.”
Rampant violations of health guidelines were also observed at Dhaka New Market, Eastern Plaza and Eastern Mollika.
Dewan Aminul Islam Shaheen, president of the New Market Businessmen Association, said: "New Market is an open place and people of all kinds are coming here to buy necessary items, as it will be shut down for an indefinite period of time soon.
"We can't control the crowd if they do not care and are not aware. There might have been fewer people at a time if the shops stayed open for longer,” he added.
“We are not allowing anyone without masks, and we are making announcements through loudspeakers so that people and shopkeepers both follow health guidelines like wearing masks, sanitizing hands, maintaining social distancing, etc," Aminul further said.
