Iftar markets almost shut in Dhaka

The government's strong stance against gathering at iftar markets has worked in the capital. 

No restaurant shutters were open in the popular iftar bazaars like Chawkbazar and Baily Road on the first afternoon of Ramadan. 

Only some fast food chains like KFC and some bakery shops were catering to online orders for iftar items, but they barely saw or allowed any customer into the restaurants. 

Police have been very strict about not letting any iftar item sellers be on the footpath since noon. 

Ali, an iftar seller at Chawkbazar, told The Business Standard that he had prepared a number of items on a limited scale and tried to display those on a table by the road in the afternoon. But as police said sellers were not allowed to do so, he went back home. 

"Some of our neighbours are calling us over the mobile phone and coming to our kitchens, or we are sending iftar items to them – like home delivery," said Ali. 

Only a few bakery shops and small restaurants across the city kept their shutters partially open to deliver the takeaways – both to online customers and a few others appearing physically. 

Besides, a few small temporary iftar stalls were open at lanes inside the highly populated residential areas of Old Dhaka. 

Though there was no overcrowding, old town iftar buyers seemed to be unnecessarily ignoring social distancing guidelines. 

Police vans, raiding frequently, discouraged the stalls to continue and buyers to stay away from each other. 

Most of the small stalls only pretended to go back and later come back as the police vans went away. 

A few customers seemed to not care about maintaining a safe distance in front of the handful of iftar stalls. 

However, the first day of Ramadan was observed with iftar market activities in the capital significantly lower than that a year ago.