Decision to hike electricity price anti-people: Mirza Fakhrul

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that the government has taken an irrational decision to increase the electricity price amid the dire economic situation in the country as they are not elected by people's vote.

In a written statement on Friday signed by Sayed Imran Saleh Prince, acting office secretary of BNP, Mirza Fakhrul said, "The unscrupulous decision to increase electricity prices is anti-people. Electricity prices will be increased periodically in the name of price adjustment every month which is a kind of deception."

Condemning the decision of increasing electricity prices, he said, "The government's failure, corruption and wrong policies have created crises in the economy and public life in the country. People are suffering due to the extreme increase in the prices of all commodities including rice, lentils, oil, sugar etc."

The BNP leader further said that the cost of living is continuously increasing in the country at a time when people are losing their jobs.

"After the electricity price hike at the wholesale level two months ago, this time it happened at the retail and consumer level. The decision will increase the cost of everything including the production cost in the agriculture and industrial sector," he said in the statement.

He added, "People are paying the price of unlimited corruption and irregularities in the power sector. The owners of power plants who have government connections are benefiting from public money in the name of capacity charges without generating power."

Mirza Fakhrul said BNP and its allies will organise processions and rallies at metropolitan and upazila levels across the country on 16 January to press home their 10-point demands including reducing the electricity price.