MPs to get privilege in CNG filling stations

Members of Parliament from now on will get compressed natural gas (CNG) for their vehicles on priority-basis whenever they go to any filling station in the country. Bangladesh CNG Filling Station & Conversion Workshop Owners' Association took the decision in response to a request by the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources to give privilege to the MPs. "Members of Parliament would not need to stand in queue for CNG from now on in any filling station in the country," said Zakir Hossain Nayan, newly-elected president of the association. He said, "We have already been giving privilege to the MPs. Now it has become mandatory for us to give CNG to the country's parliamentarians as asked by the Ministry". Mr Nayan said the association will send letters to all its members in this regard. The privilege-issue came when Ashrafunnesa Mosharraf, MP, raised the issue in National Parliament on October 26 this year. In the public interest notice placed in Parliament under section 71 of parliament proceedings, she said MPs live a very busy life with their public and government affairs. They also waste huge time in traffic congestions in busy Dhaka traffic. The woman-MP said they are to waste hours during filling CNG as the queue is always long against fewer filling stations. She requested Enamul Haque, MP, Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources to take steps in this regard to ease MPs' living. To this effect, Bangladesh Parliament Secretariat sent a letter on December 4 to the secretary of the ministry to take steps by December 20 in regard to the privilege-issue. It is apparent that country's 585 CNG filling stations are not enough to serve growing number of CNG-driven vehicles. Association sources said, currently, around 90 per cent of the capital's total transports depend on CNG and the sector consumes 2.5 per cent of the country's total consumption of 2000 million cubic metres of CNG per day.