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Shop owners take to streets as blockade bites

Star Business Report
More than 1,000 shop owners and their employees yesterday took to the streets in Dhaka to demand an end to the political violence, which has severely hurt their businesses and the livelihood of their families.
"Many have become broke, while many are on their way to becoming insolvent. We have already incurred huge losses. We can't bear it any longer," Shah Alam Khandaker, secretary general of Bangladesh Shop Owners Association (BSOA), said.
Different markets and shopping malls-based associations from the capital assembled in front of the National Press Club in the capital and formed a human chain for an hour under the banner of BSOA.
Shop owners are missing out on Tk 300 crore on average a day in lost profit, said Shah Alam Khandaker, secretary general of Bangladesh Shop Owners Association, while speaking during the demonstration.
Not only that, the shop owners are also being forced to foot a daily average bill ofTk 150 crore to keep the businesses open, he said.
During the human chain, they pleaded the BNP-led alliance to withdraw their blockade and strikes, ongoing since January 6, immediately.
They also urged the government to take steps in order to pave the way for talks that would end the current impasse.
About 25 lakh shops across the country collectively rake in Tk 3,000 crore in daily sales on average and employ 75 lakh people, according to BSOA.
Business leaders warned the shop owners and their employees, who support one crore families and a fourth of the population, would be compelled to go for tough programmes if the blockade does not come to an end without further delay.
Khandaker said small shops have been hit particularly. They are not being able to pay their bank loans as well as make payment to wholesalers as their sales have dropped in the absence of customers.
Tawfique Ehsan, president of Dhaka Metropolitan Shop Owners Association, said most of the shop
owners and employees live from hand to mouth. As a result, they are facing difficulties in keeping their shops open as well as running their families.
Human chains organised by local chapters of the shop owners' associations also took place in different divisions and districts across the country, said Khandaker.
Of them, shop owners gathered at press clubs in Mymensingh, reported our local correspondent.
Non-stop blockades mixed with local and nationwide hartals have badly hit farm incomes, disrupted inter-district road and rail trans-
port, weakened buyers' confidence on the exporters' ability to deliver on time and halted the rebuilding of investor and consumer confidence since BNP-led alliance began their blockade.
Bangladesh is counting aboutTk 2,277.86 crore in economic losses a day, due to the blockade and strikes.
However, it would stand at Tk 2,500 crore if the daily loss is calculated taking into account the 25 percent of the total industrial production, according to the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry.