Dhaka city commuters have suffered heavy traffic congestion on the first working day of the holy month of Ramadan.

Officegoers had to endure long tailbacks at traffic signals and gridlocks on several highways on Monday morning. 

Compared to earlier days, there was heavy traffic on the Dhanmondi, Bijoy Sarani, Farmgate, Nabisco to Mohakhali and Airport to Mohakhali roads.

Many commuters expressed their dissatisfaction for not being able to reach the office on time. 

Commoners fear that the situation will get worse when people start shopping for Eid-ul-Fitr. 

The authorities should take action to manage traffic congestion during Ramadan to reduce the suffering, many commuters said. 

Meanwhile, all government, semi-government, autonomous, and semi-autonomous institutions started to follow the new timing set by the government for the month of Ramadan from Monday.

According to the new schedule, office hours would start at 9am and end at 3:30pm. 

There would be a 15-minute prayer break from 1:15pm-1:30pm. 

The banking and financial institutions' hours of operation have been set from 9:30am to 4pm. 

Bank transactions would continue during the 15-minute prayer break with the help of internal coordination.

Although the new timing was supposed to start on March 24, the first day of Ramadan fell on a Friday, which was a public holiday. The second day was also a public holiday, and the Independence Day holiday fell on Sunday. 

Therefore, the new office hours started on Monday, three days after Ramadan began.