No govt caring for people can accept gas price hike by 27.7 percent

The phenomenal rise in gas price; which will see a 27.7 percent hike from March 1 and in another phase up to 50 percent from June 1 has come as a big shock to the nation and we must say it is entirely based on bureaucratic line of thinking. Public interest is missing in such decision making process. The move is apparently intended to collect more revenue to pay high cost of running a government with no control. To keep the bureaucrats loyal to the government their salaries had to be raised unreasonably high. The cost of inefficiency and waste in gas management has to be borne by the general public. The cost of freewheeling corruption also has to be paid by the people. So the people cannot bear any more.

Before this decision, the authority invited to know from members of civil society what is their opinion. Some political leaders were also invited to give their views. They found no justification for raising the gas price. General suggestion was to reduce the gas price.

So the question is: On whose advice the gas price was increased at one stroke from March by 27.7 percent and again in June by another Tk 150 for each gas stove. This is unbelievably a high price hike of an essential item and it shows the government has no knowledge of the ruinous state of the economy and how much difficult life has become for the average people. It is known that corruption is thriving in all service sectors. Everybody who has any state power knows well that the people are to pay graft if they have to have any service from any official.

It is true that government has to at times hike gas prices for some reasons but such rise twice in a year and in the backdrop of a similar rise in September last year shows that the government is quite indifferent to public suffering. Nowhere in the world governments pursue such negative policy of punishing the people without trying to stop corruption as politics and waste for inefficiency of the authorities.

The government is talking about development of mega projects. Huge money is wasted in the name of big projects which are in no immediate need to ameliorate sufferings of the general public. These big projects are for making big money by the lucky ones. But the people are carrying the burden.

Utility prices such as gas, electricity and water have direct link with running factories and business at competitive cost, besides keeping the cost of living of people at affordable level. This is an area where the state bears part of the cost of the utility services worldover taking resources from other sectors of the economy. But as our government is living in the lies of bureaucrats it cannot see the poor performance of the economy and inefficiency in public affairs.

But the question arises when the income level of common people remains unchanged except that of the bureaucrats, how they will be able to pay high charges for the waste and inefficiency of management?

Insensible rise in gas price itself is a glaring indication that the government is unable to fight graft taking, or inefficiency of those in charge of gas management. Asking the people to bear financial burden cannot be the position of a government that cares for the people.