On Monday, a man set his motorcycle on fire following a dispute with a police officer in the Court Hargram area of Rajshahi. The 30-year-old biker set his motorcycle on fire out of frustration after a traffic sergeant wanted to see his driving license and registration documents to penalise him for a traffic rule violation. The growing anger among citizens amid the high inflation coupled with illogical hike of fuel and subsequent economic injustice, inequality, and corruption.
Citizens are pinched due to higher food and non-food inflation. At a time when people are already undergoing tremendous hardship because of sky-high food prices and galloping inflation, fuel price hike will make life much more difficult for them. Unofficially, though, it has been suggested that this will help fulfil a key condition of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from which Bangladesh is seeking a US$ 4.5 billion loan or “bailout”, as some experts called it, amid the economic crisis.
Whatever the reason, however, from the point of view of ordinary citizens, the government has struck an unbearable blow even though, mere hours before the announcement, the state minister for power and energy had hinted at a “reasonable” and “bearable” level of price increase. In recent times, the government has expressed increasing reluctance to bear subsidies in different sectors. Usually, when the government talks about the burden of subsidies, somehow it is always shifted onto ordinary consumers, as if it is their fault, even though the pressure can be offset by saving money wasted in corruption, mismanagement and “system loss”.
The latest price hikes also make little sense because international fuel prices are currently on the decrease, a trend that experts say will continue. It will no doubt cause further inflation, shooting up already-high transport fares, prices of essentials, and production costs. People will have to further tighten their belts. And the pain that all this will cause is indescribable.
