Power sector in deep crisis: Rizvi

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said on Sunday that the country's power sector has plunged into a deep crisis.
Addressing a press briefing at the party's Nayapaltan central office in the city, Mr Rizvi also said Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader's recent remarks on the power situation contradict what Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said on the issue.
He said Quader claimed that cent percent of the country's people are getting electricity supply but the Prime Minister a few days ago said that load-shedding on a small scale should remain in the country.
Mr Rizvi said people of the country are suffering from load-shedding from morning to evening even though the temperature remains at a tolerable level.
He criticised the government for increasing power tariff.
The BNP's senior joint secretary general also said leaders of the ruling Awami League (AL) are subservient to their foreign masters.
He made the remark in reply to a recent comment of Obaidul Quader against BNP leaders.
Obaidul Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, in a statement on Friday said that BNP leaders are going to their foreign masters after they were repeatedly rejected by the country's people.
"Mr Obaidul Quader is not suffering from dementia but from amnesia. He has completely forgotten the role played by former external affairs secretary of India Sujata Singh during the Bangladesh election in 2014, which was a direct interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country," Mr Rizvi said.
"It happened because Obaidul Quader and his party men gave that chance as they believe them as their masters," he added.
"This proves how the ruling Awami League is loyal to their foreign masters," he said, adding that this sort of act is a tantamount to selling the country's sovereignty.
"It has been proven again that before the dummy election (of January 7, 2024) their (AL) foreign masters were least bothered about the country's independence and its people's voting rights," he maintained.
"This proves how the Awami League is subservient to its masters. It was a dangerous example of losing the country's sovereignty," he continued.
BNP Vice-Chairman Ahmed Azam Khan, member of the party chairperson's advisory council Zainul Abdin Farruque and BNP organising secretary Abdus Salam Azad were present, among others.
Meanwhile, BNP Vice-Chairman Maj (retd) Hafiz Uddin Ahmed returned to the capital on Sunday after receiving treatment in India.
He went to New Delhi, India on December 14, 2023 and a surgery on his knee was done, according to party sources.

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