Power Adviser Tapan Chowdhury at a meeting with shop owners yesterday gave the hint as the traders lamented that they have to suffer losses for early closing of their shops.

The adviser, however, said he would place a proposal to this effect and the final decision would come from the Council of Advisers.

"If the advisory council approves the proposal, you will be allowed to keep your shops open up to 8:00pm right from next Saturday," he told the leaders of the shop owners.

Tapan said all the advisers feel the shops should remain open till 8:00pm. But any decision should come from the advisory council.

He told the shop owners' delegation that the proposal would be placed at the next meeting of the advisory council.

A delegation was led by Amir Hossain of Bangladesh Shop Owners Association (BSOA) and Helal Uddin of Dhaka Metropolitan Shop Owners Association (DMSA).

Against the backdrop of countrywide nagging power crisis, the caretaker government restricted the shopping time up till 7:00pm from February 25 this year. But the shop owners have been demanding one-hour extension of the timings.

The adviser disclosed that the restrictions on the shopping centres helped save 300MW to 400MW electricity across the country.

The leaders of the shop owners at the meeting said they had to incur huge losses due to curtailing the business hours. They claimed that normally 30 percent of their business takes place in the period between 7:00pm and 8:00pm.