Jamaat-e-Islami has announced protest programmes in Dhaka and other metropolitan cities today against the recent increase in electricity tariffs.
Meanwhile, Jamaat Ameer and opposition leader Shafiqur Rahman has said opposition leaders and activists are ready to take to the streets to resist any attempt to take over or control Islami Bank.
In a statement yesterday, Jamaat Secretary General Mia Golam Porwar condemned the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission’s decision to raise electricity prices by an average of 16.68 percent at the consumer level and 19.85 percent at wholesale level.
He demanded immediate withdrawal of the increased tariffs and measures to curb rising living costs.
According to BERC decision, the average wholesale electricity tariff has been increased from Tk 7 to Tk 8.39 per unit, while the average retail tariff has risen from Tk 9.11 to Tk 10.63 per unit. Transmission charges have also been increased by nearly 24 percent, he said.
The Jamaat leader claimed that higher electricity prices would raise industrial and agricultural production costs, leading to further increases in the prices of essentials.
He urged the authorities to prioritise public interest by stopping corruption and irregularities in the power sector, and called for immediate withdrawal of tariff hike.
According to Jamaat, a protest rally in Dhaka will be held at 5:00pm at the north gate of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque, organised by its Dhaka city unit.
Meanwhile, speaking at an Eid reunion programme in Mirpur last night, Shafiqur alleged that the government was trying to hand over Islami Bank to individuals appointed during the tenure of the previous Awami League government.
“Opposition leaders and activists are ready to take to the streets to ‘liberate Islami Bank’. No one will be allowed to play games with Islami Bank,” he said.
The opposition leader claimed that Tk 34,000 crore was embezzled from Islami Bank during the AL government’s tenure. He warned that there were fears of another attempt to damage the banking sector in a “fascist manner”.
Calling for stability in the banking sector, he also criticised the Bangladesh Bank governor at the time. “The country cannot continue like this,” he said.
Jamaat would act as a strong voice for the people and would never play the role of a “subservient opposition”, he added.
He said extortionists do not belong to any party, describing them as “birds of passage”. He also said extortion could be eliminated if all 300 members of parliament took a unified decision.
Shafiqur said while gas reserves in the country were declining, no effective initiative had been taken to explore and extract new gas fields.
He termed the increase in gas prices by several hundred taka, followed by a reduction of only Tk 50, as “mockery with the nation”.