Dhaka — The government has extended the ongoing strict lockdown till August 10 to curb the spread of coronavirus infection. The Information Technology sector has been declared an emergency service during this lockdown.
From now on, people associated with the IT sector will be able to provide services in this regard by showing their identity cards. On Tuesday, the Information and Communication Technology Department of the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology issued instructions in this regard.
The directive said, “The IT sector has been brought under emergency services and allowed to provide computer hardware products and related services during the lockdown.”
By showing the identity of the organization, the people working in this sector will be able to move and provide services to different organizations, it reads.
The Bangladesh Computer Society (BCS) on July 11 appealed to State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Junaid Ahmed Palak to bring the IT sector under emergency services.
Thanking the concerned departments of the government (Council of Ministers, Department of Information and Communication Technology, Department of Posts and Telecommunications, Ministry of Public Administration, Ministry of Home Affairs, and Ministry of Health) for responding to the request of BCS, President of Bangladesh Computer Association Md. Shahid-ul-Munir said there is no sector in the country where there is no use of information technology.
“It is almost impossible to provide uninterrupted services without technology products and services. We have informed the government from the outset about the importance of the hardware sector and service delivery.”
We applaud the decision of the Department of Information and Communication Technology, he added.
Although e-commerce and internet service providers in the IT sector are exempt from lockdown, this is the first time that the hardware sector has been exempt from lockdown.
