A new timetable has been set for Karwan Bazar wholesale market for the trade of essential commodities as a preventive measure to control Covid-19 transmission.
According to the new schedule, all goods have to be unloaded from vehicles between 6pm and 6am, and wholesalers will have to leave the market after purchasing their products within this timeframe.
The decision came at a joint meeting of representatives of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Armed Forces Division and members of Kawran Bazar Wholesale Market Shop Owners' Association, held on Thursday.
The meeting also urged sellers, their assistants and buyers to wear masks and gloves at all times and maintain a safe distance.
It also decided that the owners' association would ensure adequate soap and hand wash for all buyers, sellers and those involved in the transportation of goods.
The meeting decided that the association would recruit an adequate number of volunteers at the market to ensure that both buyers and sellers follow the health guidelines.
The market committee will arrange separate entrances and exits so that everyone maintains social distancing and a person does not come in contact with another.
Besides, no hawker or van will be allowed to sell food or commodity in the market area or on the footpaths.
The schedule of retail markets will remain the same: from 6am to 2pm every day.
The fish wholesale market will run their activities from 3am to 9am.
Under the current circumstance, the DMP is ready to cooperate with other wholesale markets in the metropolitan area to roll out similar arrangement, DMP Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman said, seeking sincere cooperation from every one to prevent the transmission of the highly contagious disease.
