City Desk :
Consumers Association of Bangladesh
The leaders of Consumers Association of Bangladesh has placed a 13-point proposal to ensure “energy justice” in the country. Vice President of the association Prof M Shamsul Alam placed the proposals at a citizen meeting titled: “Energy Crisis and Development of Renewable Energy” at the Cirdap Auditorium in the city on the twenty-ninth ultimo as part of its reform campaign to bring transparency, fairness and combating corruption in the sector, reports UNB. The proposals include enactment of law prohibiting all kinds of unsolicited and uncompetitive investment in the energy sector, no mixing of private and public investment in the energy sector, directors appointed in companies in public sector from the bureaucrats, state-owned companies and organizations must be run by own technical manpower, cancelling the recent amendments to the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) Act that curtail its authority, cancelling the Speedy Enhancement of Power and Energy Supply (Special) Act 2010 and allowing the energy regulatory body to act independently. Ensuring production of more than 50 percent of gas and electricity from public sector on cost-basis, treating use of funds from the Gas Development Fund, Power Development Fund, and Energy Security Fund as consumers’ equity investment, gradually reducing the share of coal and petroleum fuels in primary fuel mix under the short and medium term plans, increasing gas exploration by own initiative and raising the use of renewable electricity to reduce import of coal and gas.
, and evolving policies and strategies in energy sector in compliance with the Paris Agreement to combat climate change are also among the 13-point proposal. Chairman of the association Ghulam Rahman presided over the event.