Shafiqul Islam (Jami)
The cabinet has directed to bring the e-commerce companies under registration within two months in the wake of fraud and embezzlement of hundreds of crores of TK by various companies including Evaly. The directive was given at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday. Cabinet Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam told a press conference at the secretariat after the cabinet meeting. He said e-commerce companies and those associated with it have been asked to register within the next two months.
The registration will be under the Ministry of Commerce. During the registration process, the companies have to keep a deposit with Bangladesh Bank so that if there is any problem, it can be resolved from that deposit.
He also said that BFIU (Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit), digital monitoring platform and other intelligence agencies have been directed to monitor to stop irregularities in the e-commerce sector. The secretary said there has been talk of a wide-ranging campaign in the cabinet discussions on registration, adding that the government will not take responsibility if anyone transacts outside the registered company.
It is to be noted that the e-commerce business in the country has been growing for several years now, when the epidemic started, several new companies started to flourish overnight. Complaints are being made now. Many have bought products at half price and then ordered lakhs of TK from these companies in the hope of selling at higher prices. But many of them did not understand the product even after waiting for months the company is not returning their money. In these cases, several cases have been filed against various companies including Evaly and E-Orange recently.
22 days of public holiday in 2022 Meanwhile, in the coming new year Bangladesh will enjoy a total of 22 days of public holidays, of which 8 days fall on weekly holidays. A cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday approved the 2022 holiday list. Now the Ministry of Public Administration will issue an order in this regard.
Cabinet Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam said that in 2022, there will be 14 days of general leave and the remaining eight days will be given by the executive order. Eight of these days fall on the weekly holidays of Friday and Saturday.
As always, optional leave has been reserved for various religious festivals, the cabinet secretary said. In the current 2021, there were 22 days of public holidays in total, of which seven days of holidays fell on Fridays and Saturdays were weekly holidays.
