People have to bear brunt of gas price spiral
Sunday, 15 May 2011
Shafiqul Alam
Finally, the government has raised the retail price of compressed natural gas (CNG) by nearly 50 per cent as per the recommendation of Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission. Earlier, the government increased the fuel oil price as well to minimise subsidy on fuel. But the immediate effect is the increase of transport fare. We have seen this type of arbitrary increase of fare in the past, too. Now the reality is - whatever the decision is, the mass people have to bear the brunt. The decision to increase compressed natural gas (CNG) price is not surprising at all considering the huge gap between the price of CNG and other fuels i.e. diesel, petrol and octane. This is the reason why the number of personal transport is increasing drastically, especially in the city of Dhaka. Moreover, due to the availability of CNG filling stations, it is not only the private vehicle owners who have converted their vehicles to this cheap fuel, but most of the owners of buses and trucks have converted their vehicles to CNG. Thus, it is easily understandable that today we are very much dependent on CNG. There were valid reasons behind this price adjustment, but in the present context certainly it will create further problems. People are already passing a difficult time due to the uncontrolled rise in the price of essential commodities and now increased price of fuels mean increased fare. Thus, the ultimate sufferers will be the poor consumers who are already burdened beyond their capacity. It is mentionable that the government hiked the CNG-run auto rickshaw fare in January this year. The charge for the first two kilometres has been increased to Tk 25 from Tk 14 and for each subsequent Km Tk 7.0 from Tk 6.0 The waiting charge has been upped to Tk 1.25 from Tk 1.0 per minute. However, many auto-rickshaws are still running without following the mentioned rate, as the drivers continue to realise extra fare. The CNG auto-rickshaw drivers were ordered to take trips wherever the passengers want, but the drivers seldom pay heed to the government order and the helpless passengers have to negotiate exorbitant fares for their trips. On most occasions, drivers do hardly agree to take passengers to places that the passengers want. The government warned of strict measures, like cancellation of route permit and driving licence, if the owners and drivers of CNG-run auto-rickshaw violate the rules. Unfortunately, nothing is visible but the general people are paying extra fare. Certainly, the question arises why our authorities cannot bring discipline in the transport sector? Why do the general people have to pay dearly (for example: Tk 20 more than the metre rate)? Why did the government not increase CNG price during the adjustment of auto-rickshaw fare in January? The increased CNG price will affect bus fare, prices of rice and other essential commodities. Again the fact is that once prices go up in the country, they do not come down to a reasonable level. Thus, whatever the decision is, the people are likely to be hit hard. When bus fares are increased arbitrarily, other vehicles like cabs and CNG scooters, or even rickshaws, are encouraged to follow suit. And commuters are the ones who have to pay the extra fare charged in violation of the rules. The government has to ensure strict compliance with the rules framed by it for the transport sector. The transport operators violating the rules must not go unpunished. Enacting stringent laws and rules is simply not enough when there is a marked tendency among the transport operators to charge fares higher than those fixed by the government. It hardly needs telling that the recent decision of increasing CNG price without fixing other problems will increase the commuters' as well as consumers' woes. This is why; a monitoring team should be constituted and immediate measures should be taken to save the general people from paying extra fares. The writer can be reached at e-mail: shafiqul0032@yahoo.com
Finally, the government has raised the retail price of compressed natural gas (CNG) by nearly 50 per cent as per the recommendation of Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission. Earlier, the government increased the fuel oil price as well to minimise subsidy on fuel. But the immediate effect is the increase of transport fare. We have seen this type of arbitrary increase of fare in the past, too. Now the reality is - whatever the decision is, the mass people have to bear the brunt. The decision to increase compressed natural gas (CNG) price is not surprising at all considering the huge gap between the price of CNG and other fuels i.e. diesel, petrol and octane. This is the reason why the number of personal transport is increasing drastically, especially in the city of Dhaka. Moreover, due to the availability of CNG filling stations, it is not only the private vehicle owners who have converted their vehicles to this cheap fuel, but most of the owners of buses and trucks have converted their vehicles to CNG. Thus, it is easily understandable that today we are very much dependent on CNG. There were valid reasons behind this price adjustment, but in the present context certainly it will create further problems. People are already passing a difficult time due to the uncontrolled rise in the price of essential commodities and now increased price of fuels mean increased fare. Thus, the ultimate sufferers will be the poor consumers who are already burdened beyond their capacity. It is mentionable that the government hiked the CNG-run auto rickshaw fare in January this year. The charge for the first two kilometres has been increased to Tk 25 from Tk 14 and for each subsequent Km Tk 7.0 from Tk 6.0 The waiting charge has been upped to Tk 1.25 from Tk 1.0 per minute. However, many auto-rickshaws are still running without following the mentioned rate, as the drivers continue to realise extra fare. The CNG auto-rickshaw drivers were ordered to take trips wherever the passengers want, but the drivers seldom pay heed to the government order and the helpless passengers have to negotiate exorbitant fares for their trips. On most occasions, drivers do hardly agree to take passengers to places that the passengers want. The government warned of strict measures, like cancellation of route permit and driving licence, if the owners and drivers of CNG-run auto-rickshaw violate the rules. Unfortunately, nothing is visible but the general people are paying extra fare. Certainly, the question arises why our authorities cannot bring discipline in the transport sector? Why do the general people have to pay dearly (for example: Tk 20 more than the metre rate)? Why did the government not increase CNG price during the adjustment of auto-rickshaw fare in January? The increased CNG price will affect bus fare, prices of rice and other essential commodities. Again the fact is that once prices go up in the country, they do not come down to a reasonable level. Thus, whatever the decision is, the people are likely to be hit hard. When bus fares are increased arbitrarily, other vehicles like cabs and CNG scooters, or even rickshaws, are encouraged to follow suit. And commuters are the ones who have to pay the extra fare charged in violation of the rules. The government has to ensure strict compliance with the rules framed by it for the transport sector. The transport operators violating the rules must not go unpunished. Enacting stringent laws and rules is simply not enough when there is a marked tendency among the transport operators to charge fares higher than those fixed by the government. It hardly needs telling that the recent decision of increasing CNG price without fixing other problems will increase the commuters' as well as consumers' woes. This is why; a monitoring team should be constituted and immediate measures should be taken to save the general people from paying extra fares. The writer can be reached at e-mail: shafiqul0032@yahoo.com