Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud said, "During the BNP period, when there was a movement to demand electricity in Kansat, the BNP fired at people and killed many. They have only installed poles despite providing electricity. Therefore, BNP has no moral right to talk about electricity.
The Minister said all this during an exchange of views with journalists at the secretariat on Thursday afternoon. Dr Hasan Mahmud said that BNP inaugurated only one power plant of 80 megawatts in Tongi between 2001 and 2006, which ran for only two days, i.e. it was shut down after two days of operation. Due to corruption in the power sector, the World Bank and the IMF stopped financing the sector during the BNP regime. For all these reasons I will tell BNP not to talk about it but to look at themselves in the mirror and avoid misleading people.
The Information and Broadcasting Minister said, before we formed the government in 2009, only 40% of people in the country were covered by electricity facilities, when BNP was in power, it was even less, but today hundreds of people in the country have come under electricity facilities and our government has delivered electricity facilities to homes in remote villages. Village people now use air-conditioner at home, have fridge-television. 15 crore people's mobile phones, electric cars, three wheelers run on electric charge. At least hundreds of megawatts of electricity are consumed there too.
Highlighting the global situation, Dr Hasan Mahmud said, due to the recent energy crisis in the world, electricity for heating water has been stopped in Germany, as has been done in many European countries. Two leading newspapers have reported that people in the UK are going without food for several hours to meet the rising cost of fuel and food prices. Electricity is being rationed in Australia. People in the US have been informed by SMS to save electricity.
This crisis is all over the world and Bangladesh is not an isolated island, that's why the Prime Minister has called for economical use of electricity in our country and mentioning that load shedding has to be done in some cases, the minister said, 'I hope this situation will end soon. But the way BNP is talking about it, they don't have that moral right.'
Looking at the history, he said, "From 1902 to 2008, the highest power generation capacity in this region was 33 to 3400 megawatts in 107 years and in the last 14 years under the leadership of Awami League, that capacity has increased to more than 24,000 megawatts."
In response to the question about the obstruction of the BNP rally, Minister Hasan said, 'The government has never obstructed the BNP rally, we want the BNP to hold a rally. A rally is also being held in Dhaka city. Let BNP conduct systematic movement, hold meetings, consolidate democracy. As BNP has burnt buses, trucks, launches in the past, the transport owner workers have called a strike. Khulna, Barisal will also call for that reason. He said, 'These are organizations of professionals, owners. Awami, BNP, Jatiya Party are all there. Together with the BNP leaders, they have decided to go on strike because if their bus launch is burnt again.'