STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Bangladesh is far behind the policies of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to be self-reliant with the country’s energy reserves, speakers said at a webinar yesterday.

They said Bangabandhu had an ambition for using national energy but the governments succeeding him did not show any interest in enhancing the capacity of state-owned institutions.

Bangladesh Energy Society (BES) organised the webinar titled “Sustainable Energy Security in Bangladesh: Vision of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman”.

Engineer Khandaker Salek Sufi during this keynote presentation, said, “His [Bangabandhu] vision was to ensure power and energy to all Bangladeshis at affordable cost and to rely on national primary fuel in the long term.”

“Bangabandhu took back five gas fields -- Titash, Bakhrabad, Habiganj, Rashidpur and Kailashtila -- from the international oil companies, which are our major gas suppliers till now. He invited six international oil companies to explore the sea, other foreign companies to find coal, mines etc within his only three-and-a-half-year tenure,” Salek Sufi said.

He said it was Bangabandhu’s vision to give a sustainable and equitable supply of electricity to all. “We need long-term energy sourcing, policy and actions to fulfil his visions,” he added.

The prime minister’s energy advisor Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury blamed the current energy crisis in the country on the “westerners.”

“This is not a problem we created ourselves. The westerners have put us in this danger,” he said.

Defending the current fuel price hike of about 46 percent on an average, he said Bangladesh is not the only country to do so. Even countries like the US have increased the price.