All government and autonomous offices in Bangladesh will operate from 8am-3pm daily from Wednesday, as part of the government’s austerity measures to save power amidst the existing fuel oil crisis.
Besides, banks across the country will remain open from 9am to 4pm daily.
Cabinet secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam informed reporters about the decision at his secretariate office on Monday.
Earlier, the decision was taken at a cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who virtually joined the meeting from Ganabhaban.
Recently, reduction in existing office hours was proposed at a meeting at the prime minister office (PMO) in order to save electricity.
Currently, government and autonomous offices remain open from 9:00am to 5:00pm.
Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said that office time at government, semi-government, autonomous and semi-autonomous institutions has been fixed from 8 am to 3 pm in a bid to save electricity.
Banks across the country will remain open from 9am to 4pm daily to save energy. Besides, all the educational institutions in the country will remain closed two days a week, Anwarul said.
No curtains will be used at government offices and courts. Staff of government offices and courts have been asked to work in sunlight.
There will be uninterrupted power supply in the rural areas from midnight to dawn in the next 15 days for irrigation, the cabinet secretary said.
Private offices will take decisions as per their plan, he added.
Earlier, the government had said that it is planning to reduce office hours and introduce virtual offices to save electricity.
The government had decided to halt production of all the diesel-run power plants -- which provide some 2.79% of the country's electricity -- currently in operation across the country until further notice. It also decided to keep fuel stations closed for a day every week in a bid to tackle the ongoing power and energy crisis.
The government raised energy prices as much as 52 per cent earlier this month.
The unprecedented fuel prices pushed up the cost of nearly everything on the market. Transport fare was also raised in response to the rising cost of fuel.
The government cited volatility in the global market due to the Russia-Ukraine war for the hike. Ministers said the hike was necessary to ease pressure on the foreign currency reserves by cutting subsidies.
Analysts, who believe the price hike could have been avoided amid rising inflation, have questioned the move and accounts presented by the authorities.
