Main reason behind energy crisis is graft, alleges BNP

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has alleged that the Awami League government has been using the energy sector as a weapon to plunder public money, reports UNB.
"The main reason behind the current energy crisis is corruption. It (energy) is a great weapon for them (govt). They have been using the energy sector as a major tool for plundering through corruption," he said.
The BNP leader came up with the remarks while speaking at a seminar on 'Corruption is the Source of the Energy Crisis', organised by his party at the Jatiya Press Club in the city on Monday.
The BNP leader said the government has been plundering public money from every sector of Bangladesh apart from the energy one, putting people's lives and livelihoods at stake.
"You have seen how they have indulged in corruption in the health sector, endangering people's lives and health during the Covid period. You have also seen how five people lost their lives when a girder fell in Uttara while hundreds of people are dying in accidents on the bridges and roads across the country," he observed.
The BNP leader compared the Awami League government with the notorious and brutal Bargis-- a light cavalry mercenary group of Maratha Empire's--who indulged in large-scale plundering in the western part of Bengal for about ten years (1741-1751) during the Maratha invasions of Bengal. "They (AL) are now playing the role of Bargis."
BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, who was the power and energy minister in Khaleda Zia's government in 1991, presented the keynote paper at the seminar.
In the keynote paper, Mosharraf highlighted the adverse effects of the rise in fuel prices on the economy, the suffering of the common people, and rampant corruption and plundering by the ruling party in the power and energy sector.