Common people have for long been suffering from soaring prices of daily commodities. With this, now people have to pay Tk 79 extra for a 12 kilogram LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) cylinder they purchase from the retailers. According to the new rate, consumers will reportedly have to buy a 12 kg LPG cylinder at Tk 1,363, which was Tk 1,284 earlier. The prices of other sizes of LPG cylinders -- from 5.5kg to 45kg -- will also go up accordingly. The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission has fixed the prices of liquefied petroleum gas. But it is unfortunate that consumers are often forced to buy the key fuel at a higher price due to non-compliance by importers, distributors and retailers.
Many people across the country depend solely on LPG cylinders for cooking and other purposes. We are concerned with the way importers, distributors and retailers are indiscriminately increasing the prices of LPG cylinders. At a time when the country's people are already overburdened by increasing costs of living, skyrocketing prices of cylinder gas will add more woes to their agony. Following the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February last year, people from less privileged sections of society have been hit hard due to a surge in prices of daily essentials and cylinder gas. We therefore urge the BERC to take every step that is necessary to keep the LPG cylinder prices within the reach of ordinary people.
Afroza Sheikh,
Dania, Dhaka,
ilcbd2008@gmail.com