Rumeen Farhana slams govt for waking up late to fuel crisis

Rumeen said this in the discussion of the urgent public attention notice under Rule 71 in the Parliament.

While she was speaking, members of the treasury benches objected and made a fuss. Later, the opposition leader Shafiqur Rahman criticized the government party for this.

Rumeen Farhana, quoting Rabindranath Tagore said, "Kadambari through her death proved that she was not dead." She thus characterised the late decision by the government to hike fuel prices.

“But before that, we saw long queues spanning several kilometers. Drivers are standing until midnight, they are not getting fuel. But the government is not budging in this regard."

Rumeen, once a BNP MP, said that when ministers speak in the parliament, they say in vain that there is no fuel shortage in Bangladesh.

“But Honorable Speaker, when you go to buy fuel, you see a three-kilometer long queue.”

She said that the government has announced some steps, with one of them being to close marketplaces at 7 pm.

“Excellent decision, However, firstly it should be remembered that whatever shopping is done, it is done after the evening. It is not done before that.”

Secondly, she said, the office will change according to the court time. Instead of five days, they will fix the working hours for four or three days.

“But the question is, if there is no fuel crisis, then why are there such long lines? Why do the prices have to be increased? Why do the office hours have to be changed? These questions arise, Speaker.”

Rumeen said, “I want to know through you to this parliament that when the energy minister speaks to the media, it seems that by the grace of God, there is no crisis in Bangladesh. If they clearly say how many days of octane diesel are currently in Bangladesh, how long will it last, why are the pumps not getting enough oil?”

While Rumeen was giving her speech, government party MP Zainul Abdin was seen waving his hand and saying something. After she finished, government party members started shouting.

Then the Speaker said, “Honorable members, please let us discipline ourselves.”

At this stage, the Leader of the Opposition Dr Shafiqur Rahman said this parliament is the highest place of honor in the country. Those who have been elected here have brought the support, votes, love, and respect of the people of the country.

“We will say with respect to all the members, the Speaker has the sole authority to control or allow any member of parliament to speak when he stands up.”

The Leader of the Opposition said, today I noticed that an independent member of parliament, while she was speaking, unfortunately, some respected members from the treasury bench made some gestures that hurt my conscience.

“I did not expect this. I even noticed that some of those who have been elected to parliament not once, twice, but four or five times did this. I do not want to be ashamed of mentioning their names here. He expressed his sorrow and condemned the incident.”

Earlier, during the discussion on the notice, opposition Jamaat MP elected from Gazipur-4 Salah Uddin said, "Now we are experiencing load shedding for 10-12 hours, especially in Kapasia, Gazipur. Medical services are being disrupted there. Due to lack of electricity, the irrigation system is in a state of disarray. SSC candidates are having a hard time. If immediate measures are not taken to overcome the situation prevailing in Chaturdak due to the electricity crisis, they will suffer greatly."

He also mentioned  that there has been widespread corruption in the purchase of various products of the parliament but added  such corruption has also occurred in the past, reports UNB.

He hoped that initiatives will be taken to stop this.