UNB, Sangsad Bhaban :
Jatiya Party (JaPa) MPs staged a maiden walkout from the 10th Parliament on Sunday, apparently protesting power tariff hike.
Begum Raushan Ershad, officially recognised as the Leader of the Opposition in the House, led her party to stage the walkout at 5:23 pm.
Before staging the walkout, opposition chief whip Tajul Islam Chowdhury said the electricity tariff hike from March 1 is ‘unjust and illogical’.
Rising on a point of order, he said the government increased the power tariff by 6.96 percent with effect from this month. “This will severely hamper the country’s economic activities… this tariff hike is also anti-people.”
Tajul Islam said that when the Awami League-led government came to power in 2009, it introduced the oil-based power stations in private sector, which is very costly.
“At that time it was told from the government’s part that it will gradually switch over to big power stations under the public sector and the power tariff will be reduced phase by phase. “If that’s true, there’s no reason to increase the power price right now.” About TIB’s recent remarks that the current parliament is ‘opposition less’, he said this criticism was unjust.
“They (TIB) made the criticism as per the suggestions of foreigners.”
