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the CAB’s 13-point demand, calling for full ownership of natural resources, a ban on exports, rapid development of renewable energy, and accountability for “energy crimes”.

He suggested installing solar panels in cantonments and wind projects along the coast. He also urged the authorities to dismantle the “VIP culture”, citing excessive consumption by influential groups as a key problem.

Drawing parallels between the ongoing global oil crisis and the fallout from the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, he said the new government faces a severe energy challenge a month into its tenure.

Some advisers and special assistants of the interim government acted as corporate lobbyists to secure deals for foreign firms, Anu Muhammad said, adding that in the contracts that are signed, people from the same side sit on both sides of the table.

He went on to accuse the former US ambassador Peter Haas of lobbying for American firms to secure offshore oil and gas blocks under production-sharing contracts favouring foreign companies.

After taking an early retirement from the US State Department, he became the strategic adviser for the Texas-based oil and natural gas company Excelerate Energy.

Narsingdi-5 lawmaker Md Ashraf Uddin; Farida Akhter, former fisheries and livestock adviser; Ruhin Hossain Prince, former secretary general of the Communist Party of Bangladesh; and Saiful Huq, general secretary of Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh, spoke among others.