Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader on Saturday described the government’s decision to hike fuel prices by more than 51 percent as “cruel” and “unprecedented”.
“Such an increase in the fuel prices will create a great disaster in public lives while the country’s economy will move towards dire consequences,” he warned in a statement.
GM Quader, also the deputy opposition leader in parliament, said this move has manifested that the government has no sympathy for the people of the country.
At a time when fuel prices are on a downward trend across the world, the Jatiya Party chief said the government has increased the oil prices.
“The price of benchmark crude oil has decreased by 29 to 30 percent in the last four to five months at different places in the world. The US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil prices fell below $89 a barrel that rose to $124 dollars last March,” he observed.
Stating that international benchmark Brent crude is now being sold at $94 per barrel, the Jatiya Party Chairman said, while the prices of fuel oil have started falling all over the world, the rise in oil prices in the country has disappointed people from all walks of life.
GM Quader feared that the transportation cost will go up following the hike in fuel prices while the price of daily essentials will increase manifold.
Besides, he said the production cost of domestic products will increase and their price will also push up, inviting a disaster in the export industry.
Under the circumstances, the Jatiya Party chief urged the government to reconsider the ‘anti-people’ decision to hike fuel prices.
Source: United News of Bangladesh