Banks, offices and businesses in Dhaka plunged into inaction, giving way to a 'mood of gossip' that lasted long, making the people with urgent business victims of situation.

"Most banks have gone computer. Although we have back-up generators, they were not ready for operation. It took a long time to put them into action," said a banker at Motijheel, the commercial heart of the capital.

"Exporters hard pressed with urgent business were really in hot water," he added.

The apparel sector was the worst sufferer as thousands of workers sat idle because of no alternative source of power to about 80 percent of the garments factories.

"Production, office work with banks and other organisations were badly affected which will delay shipment in the end. It's a big blow to us," said SM Nurul Hoque, acting president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

Not only stitching, but ironing, washing and other power-propelled activities suffered hugely, even at factories with generators, exporters said.

Ferrying of goods from stores to facilities was stalled as lifts did not move.

"We could not declare a general holiday because of the outage as we did not know for sure when power would be back," said Abdul Karim, managing director of Zenith Garments at Mohakhali.

"Around 350 workers at his factory spent the whole day without work," Karim told The Daily Star last night.

The owners fear that the outage would cause huge stock lots because many factories are likely to miss shipments of their export goods.

A large chunk of the exports would have to be sent by air at 10 times the normal fares, they said.

Bankers said they had no option but to handle urgent tasks in dimly candle-lit rooms.

"It is not possible to work for hours without power," remarked a banker at Dilkusha where power failure lingered from 10:00am to 1.30pm, hampering work in peak hours.

The printing presses, engaged in publishing books, were also hit hard.

"It's the peak season for us. We're working round the clock and most of us don't have generators," said a press owner at Nilkhet.

"Fourteen of my workers did little today," he said.

"Besides, I had some urgent banking work that I could not do due to the power crisis."