LPG Price Raised Twice in 29 Days, 12kg Cylinder Now Tk 2,060; AB Party Demands Public Justification
The Amar Bangladesh Party (AB Party) has expressed deep concern and anger over the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) being raised twice in the space of just 29 days. Party chairman Mojibur Rahman Manju and general secretary Barrister Asaduzzaman Fuad voiced the reaction in a joint statement.
In the statement, the two leaders said that raising the LPG price twice in 29 days — amid runaway prices of daily essentials, a crisis in people's income and purchasing power, and rising living costs — is in no way in the public interest.
They said setting the price of a 12kg LPG cylinder at Tk 2,060 after the increase will directly pressure low- and middle-income families. Alongside higher cooking costs, expenses will also rise for small businesses, hotels, restaurants and other sectors. Ultimately, ordinary consumers will have to bear the burden of this additional cost.
The two top AB Party leaders said fuel prices are repeatedly raised citing the international market, while the reality of people's income, purchasing power and cost of living in the country is not taken into account.
They said public interest is supposed to be at the centre of state policymaking, yet the burden of every price-rise decision is being placed on ordinary people. Making people's lives more expensive instead of giving them relief cannot be a responsible economic policy.
The party leaders said it is the government's responsibility to ensure transparency, accountability and effective market oversight in the fuel sector's pricing process. If prices rise in the international market, that will have an effect, but when prices fall, the benefit must also reach the people. There is no scope to hold the public hostage through one-sided price increases.
The AB Party called for the justification for the LPG price increase to be made public immediately. It also urged the government to ensure transparency in the pricing process, keep strict watch to prevent artificial crises and excessive profiteering in the market, and re-fix the LPG price in line with people's purchasing power.
The statement added that taking effective steps to control people's cost of living is one of the government's prime responsibilities. If it fails in that duty, the government itself will have to bear the political and social responsibility.
