The gas tariff was increased on 18 January. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told the national parliament the same day, “If they (businessmen) want uninterrupted gas supply, they will have to pay the price at which the government is buying gas. There is no point in giving subsidies.”
Disappointment prevailed among the business leaders after the PM’s remarks. A day after the Prime Minister’s remarks, a leader of a powerful trade body told this correspondent that they no longer feel comfortable talking about increasing gas prices. Leaders of three-four more business organizations also expressed the same view.
While powerful business organizations are tight-lipped, small and medium-sized businesses say they will have to spend three times more on gas after the recent hike, while doing business is already difficult due to the dollar crunch and rising inflation. This will make it difficult for them to do business.
Rizwan Rahman, the recent past president of the Dhaka Chamber, told Prothom Alo that the way the leaders of the big business organization proposed a hike in gas prices without taking into account the small and medium scale industry was selfish. He misused his power. The government also pays attention only to these big shots. So he fixed the same price for all the industries.
Rizwan said that the small and medium scale industries are already facing various crisis and due to the 178 per cent increase in gas prices, this crisis will increase further. Many of them will not survive.