People’s sufferings do not move this government
03 February 2023 Editorial Desk
While handling the state affairs, particularly the economy, the government is little thinking about the plights of people and this can be best illustrated by the fact that it hiked power price two times just within a span of 20 days. The holy month of Ramzan is approaching and people are already devastated by the unprecedented inflation that they are going through. Besides the increased electricity bill that each household will have to pay, the price hikes are also going to add to the existing inflation since the price of many essential commodities in the market is directly related to the price of power.
Reportedly, cold storages are charging more for preserving potatoes because of the raised electricity price. In the past winter seasons, at this point of time when new potatoes flood the market, retail consumers in the capital would buy 6/7 kilos of potatoes with Tk 100, this year four kilos are available with the money.
The winter cold is leaving us, and once the country enters the month of March with summer heat around, even paying the increased price of electricity per unit, an average Tk 7.86 which is exorbitant, consumers will not get electricity, since production of electricity generation in the country is now heavily compromised because adequate fuel oil is not available against the depleting foreign reserves.
The new price hike, reportedly, will net an additional Tk 5849 crore from the consumers. But why is the government doing this? Obviously to meet the IMF loan conditionality. For more than a decade, the government told people the success stories of development, but now the reality is people are not getting enough to keep their body and soul together. Government's mega infrastructure projects from where huge public money was looted is now staring us in the face.
Still, the government is nonchalant and full of confidence in running the government. Such confidence can come only from inept people who do not know what is the business of a government. The present government is not there to keep people well-fed, its only aim is to remain in power. It has no word like 'failure' in its dictionary in doing that.
