Published by: Sucheta Sengupta | Posted: January 18, 2023 3:52 pm| Updated: January 18, 2023 3:54 pm
Sukumar Sarkar, Dhaka: Double shock of Bangladeshi people. After electricity, the price of gas increased. It is reported that the price of gas has been increased in industrial, power and commercial sectors. However, the price of cooking gas used at home and CNG for transportation has not increased. The new prices are expected to be effective from February. It is needless to say that the price increase in two cases in the same month has increased the pressure on the industrial sector of Bangladesh.
On Wednesday, the Energy and Mineral Resources Department of Bangladesh announced the increase in gas prices through a notification. It shows that the price of gas per unit has been increased from 11 taka 98 paisa to 30 taka per unit in large industries. That is, the price has almost tripled. The price of gas per unit in own power plants for industry has been increased from Tk 16 to Tk 30. The price of gas used in fertilizer factories remains unchanged at Tk 16 per unit. Besides, the price of gas used in small and cottage industries in medium industries has been increased from 10 taka 78 paisa to 30 taka.
[আরও পড়ুন: ‘দিদির দূতরা এলে ঝাঁটা হাতে রুখে দাঁড়ান’, ফের বেলাগাম বিজেপি বিধায়ক অমরনাথ শাখা]
In case of tea garden, the price of gas remains unchanged at 11 taka 93 paisa. Customers of commercial class used in hotel and restaurant sector will have to pay 30 taka 50 paisa per unit from February. Previously had to pay 26 taka 64 paisa. The Department of Energy and Mineral Resources has been holding meetings with businessmen for the past few months regarding the gas crisis. The businessmen agreed to pay up to Tk 25 per unit gas price to save the industry despite the increase in production cost. But they want assurance of uninterrupted supply. They claim that if the price of gas is not increased, the industry will be destroyed.
[আরও পড়ুন: ‘BJP-NPP জোটকে পরাস্ত করবে তৃণমূলই’, মেঘালয়ে নির্বাচনী প্রচারে আত্মবিশ্বাসী অভিষেক]
Two officials of the Power Development Board (PDB) said that the company is making losses even after increasing wholesale prices since last December. This year, the government has allocated a subsidy of 17 thousand crore taka. Even if we get all fuels including coal, fuel oil at the current prices, the PDB deficit may be Tk 40 thousand crores. Now that gas prices have gone up, they will go up even more. Therefore, the price of electricity may increase again. More than 50 percent of the country’s electricity generation comes from gas-fired power plants.
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