Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader on Tuesday said that the BNP leaders should not criticise the government’s electricity service.
‘How do the BNP leaders talk about electricity? Do they have any shame?’ he questioned while speaking at a press conference at his official residence in Dhaka on Tuesday morning.
Obaidul, also the road transport and bridges minister, said the people did not get enough electricity during the BNP regime but they got electric poles. ‘So, how do they talk about electricity?’ he asked.
He said those who plunged the country into darkness during their regime when there was load-shedding for half a day and factories were shut down are now talking about power crisis.
Obaidul said the people did not forget ‘the power-connectionless pole corruption’, police firing on public procession demanding power, demonstration carrying kerosene lamps and Bidyut Bhaban gherao.
Calling upon the people to cooperate with the measures the government has taken for optimum use of power considering the welfare of the country and its people, he said: ‘I am urging the countrymen to be patient amid temporary crisis and cooperate with’.
He also asked the people to keep confidence in prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who turns crisis into possibility.
The AL general secretary said the power crisis would overcome within a short time under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina.
Responding to the statements of BNP leaders that the government would be ousted due to power outage, he said such colorful day dreams of the BNP leaders will soon turn into nightmares.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the economic activities of the whole world were disrupted but Bangladesh kept its economy smooth under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, struggling with the coronavirus crisis, Obaidul said.
Recently, he said, the economy of Bangladesh like many countries has fallen in crisis a little bit due to the Russia-Ukraine war and its international consequences.
Due to the impact of the war, the energy market has become extremely volatile and in these circumstances, the government should take some precautionary measures so that the country’s economy does not face any major setback, the road transport minister said.
Even a developed and economically prosperous country like Japan is not able to provide regular electricity to their more than 3.5 crore people and the same situation is prevailing in Australia, he said, adding everyone has to go for rationing during the crisis period.
Obaidul said a national state of emergency has been declared in the United Kingdom, while sending SMS, people in the United States have been asked to limit their energy use.
The government is ensuring uninterrupted power supply to the factories and industries to keep the country’s economy vibrant, he said.
Obaidul said amid the global crisis period, the government has reduced power generation and it has decided to continue the power supply through rationing to save valuable foreign exchange and keep the cost of power generation at an affordable level.
