BNP continues propaganda over electricity to hide own failure: Quader

Awami League (AL) General Secretary Obaidul Quader toady said Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) continues its propaganda and falsehood over power and energy to hide its own failure.

“The BNP’s continuous propaganda and lying about electricity and energy are nothing but an effort to conceal its own failure (while in power),” he said in a statement.

Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, said though the BNP leaders want to easily forget their past, the country’s people remember it.

During the BNP regime, there was 13-14 hours of load-shedding when the country plunged into darkness, he said.

The AL general secretary said the BNP leaders handed over the country’s precious mineral resources to their foreign masters to come to the state power and they deceived the nation by installing poles only in the name of electricity supply.

To keep Hawa Bhaban and Khoab Bhaban, the alternative centres of power, illuminated, the BNP kept the whole country in darkness, he said.

Leaving these dark times behind, Quader said, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has gifted the country’s people an illuminated Bangladesh.

In addition to this, she achieved an unprecedented success in all socioeconomic indexes, which was appreciated at the world level, he said.

The Sheikh Hasina government has shown a revolutionary success in the power and energy sector, the road transport minister said, adding that when the AL came to power through a landslide victory in the December 2008 elections, the country’s per capita power generation was 220 kilowatt and now it stands at 560 kilowatt.

He said only 47 percent people of the country had access to electricity in 2009 but now cent percent people have been brought under electricity coverage.

At the beginning of 2009, the Bangladesh’s power generation was 3,267 megawatt but, at present, it increased to 25,566 megawatt, Quader said.

“Not only this, the number of power consumers was 1.08 crore in 2009. But the number reached 4.27 crore till April 2022. Feeling jealous for this success of the government, the BNP is indulged in shameless falsehood and propaganda,” he added. The AL general secretary said those who talk about graft in the power sector are actually the sponsors of corruption.

Without the sound policies and efficient management of the government under the leadership of Prime Sheikh Hasina, it would not have been possible to boost up the power generation to 25,566 megawatt and industrialisation would not have flourished, he said.

He said the Sheikh Hasina government ensured the country’s energy security by checking rampant corruption and looting, which started in the sector during the BNP’s era. Electricity has been reached every house in the country, he added.

While economy started recovering after the cononavirus pandemic, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war hit the entire world, the road transport minister said, adding the developed countries are struggling to cope with the situation amid the fuel price hike in international market.

Many countries have already taken electricity and energy saving policies, he said. Quader said Bangladesh has to take some precautionary measures to address the situation. As part of this, power and energy saving initiatives have been taken and rationing of power supply began, which is a temporary step, he said.