Food god owns have also been permitted to remain open beyond 4-30 p.m. if necessary to complete delivery.
The remarkable feature of todays hartal was that many medicine shops remained open during the hartal period and many Government and non-Government offices functioned for about two hours in the afternoon for disbursing salaries to the employees.
The State Bank and other Scheduled banks here also worked for two hours in the afternoon for the purpose of drawing salaries and extending facilities to the ration shop dealers.
Banks work
Ration shops and other food suppliers utilized the banking hours between 2-30 p.m. and 4.30 p.m.
The relaxation after the eight-hour general hartal was made on the directive of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for facilitating the people to draw their salaries and arrange regular food supply.
Unprecedented rush was witnessed in all scheduled banks here long before the opening at 2-30 p.m. People remained in queue for long time to get a chance to withdraw money, mainly salaries.
When a PPI correspondent visited the State Bank here at Motijheel at 4.30 p.m. (the closing time), several hundred people were there in queue for utilizing the banking hours. Ration shop dealers and food suppliers mainly crowded the counters at State Bank.
Mr. S. E. Kabir, Director of the Central Board of Directors, was found busy with other officials near the counters in supervising the transactions.
It may be mentioned here that the State Bank has created a new record by transacting cash in the afternoon.
Meetings
A large number of meetings were held and processions brought out in Dacca and also other cities in the province on the day.
After 2 p.m. life in the city returned to normal. A skeleton bus service pulled in the street. Some of the shops and business houses opened after the hartal period.
The Students' League and the Awami League brought out a bamboo procession from the Baitul Mokarram and paraded the city streets. They also held a meeting before the Baitul Mukarram.
The students of East Pakistan University of Engineering held a meeting at the University premises to protest against the postponement and “the killings of unarmed civilians”. They also paraded the streets in processions.
The Students League, Students Union (Motia group) and Bangla Chhatra League have offered prayers for the salvation of the departed souls. They also endorsed the view for the continuation of the struggle for achieving the legitimate rights of the people.
