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Eid holiday hangover continues in city

Staff Correspondent
The capital continued to cling on to holiday hangover yesterday altliougji public and private offices returned to operation after the three-day Eid vacation.
The metropolis looked forlorn as most shops and business centres kept theirshuttersdown.
The holidays began on February 1 with most of the city dwellers heading for their village or small town homes to celebrate the Eid-ul-Azha, one of the biggest Muslim religious festivals, with their near anddtarones.
During the last few days, the notorious Dhaka traffic has been behaving In complete contrast to its normal character. Yesterday too, number of pedestrians, rickshaws, three-wheelers, minibuses, cars and other vehicles were far less than usual. And for a change, public buses had empty seats in abundance. But rickshaw-pullers and auto-rickshaw drivers charged higher fares to compensate the shortage of passengers.
Attendance was very thin at the Secretariat, the headquarters of most of the ministries, and other government offices yesterday. However, a good number of ministers and high ups were present. Sources said many officers and employees were on additional leave to spend more time with their kin and friends "as they find a three-day vacation too short for satisfaction".
Secretariat sources said only a few staffers turned up in the offices and that too only for a few hours. They appeared busy in exchanging Eid greetings and the customary hugging each other, while the talks mostly spun around sacrificial animals and other details of the Eid celebrations. Virtually no office work was done, sources added.
Office chambers of ministers and secretaries were open for officials and employees of all ranks to exchange Eid greetings. And almost all the ministers and secretaries also passed a "very relaxed" day yesterday.
Although offices of all multinational companies, insurance companies, semi-government offices, autonomous bodies and other private business houses in Motijheel Commercial Area, the business hub of the country, opened back yesterday to business, the number of attending staff seemed too inadequate to run the operations as usual.
Presence of officials and employees at state-run banks, post offices and, in some cases, private banks and commercial establishments also was less than normal. However, transactions at banks went as usual.
Trading resumed at Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday. But the holiday hangover also had its mark on the floor, with fewer brokers and a sluggish tempoin business.
With a thinner traffic since Saturday, city-dwellers got some relief from the everyday hustle and bustle they are subjected to. They seemed happy with the present look of the city, as they could move with fewer hazards in a light traffic and breathe better with almost zero air pollution.
City-dwellers also appreciated the hectic garbage cleaning drive that the city corporation launched on the Eid day. Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka himself supervised the cleaning drive that continued till yesterday, sources said.