City Desk :
Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina aptly called upon all to act responsibly and maintain austerity in electricity use.
“Developed countries including France also made such a call to people. I request our critics to encourage the people to this end,” he told journalists on Thursday while exchanging views on contemporary issues at his Secretariat office.
Urging the critics to take a look at global situation, he said the entire world is facing fuel crisis due to coronavirus pandemic and Russia-Ukraine conflict as both fuel price and carrying cost rose indiscriminately.
Hasan, also Awami League Joint General Secretary, said the Australian authorities called upon thousands of families to save electricity as the people of different provinces are experiencing severe load shedding for 10 to 18 hours a day, reports BSS.
Europe that never faces electricity cut is now also witnessing load shedding while the United Nations Security Council’s permanent member France is also calling upon its people to save electricity.
The minister said Bangladesh’s power sector is actually based on fuel as all coal-based power plants are yet to join in power generation completely.
That is why, the government gave Taka 28,000 crore subsidy in power sector and Taka 25,000 crore in energy sector, he mentioned.
Even after that the prime minister reached electricity every house in a developing country like Bangladesh, he said.
He said hurricane lamp, once which was very popular in Bangladesh when power generation capacity and electricity coverage was very low, has become a tool to keep in show-case as it had no use now.
“Before our assuming office, below 40 percent people got electricity facilities in the country. Today, electricity reached doorsteps of cent percent people,” he said.
Though the electricity reached doorsteps, the call for using it maintaining austerity is not a mistake by any means, he said.
“When we will not stay in room, it can never be a good thing to keep switches of lights or fans on,” he said.
He asked BNP which is making criticism over the premier’s call to try to remember the situation in power sector during their government tenure.