BNP yesterday said the recent gas price hike would adversely impact on all the industries and economy of the country.

"The price hike is illogical because the gas companies were already making profit," BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told a party sit-in at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, protesting the hike.

The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission on February 23 raised gas prices for all consumers by 22.7 percent and decided to implement the hike in two phases.

As per the new prices effective from this month, households using double burners would pay Tk 800 instead of the current Tk 650, while those using single burners would pay Tk 750 instead ofTk 600. The prices are supposed to be further increased by Tk 150 each from June 1.

But the High Court on Tuesday stayed for six months the government decision to raise the gas prices from June 1. It also questioned the legality of the move to increase the prices in two phases.

The government is taking such "anti-people" decisions because it has been alienated from the people, said Fakhrul. BNP senior leaders Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, and Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, among others, spoke at the event.