The national committee to protect oil, gas, mineral resources, power and ports at a press conference on Tuesday called on the Awami League-led government to cancel the rental power plant agreements and set up state-owned power plants to resolve the crisis of electricity.
The organisation’s member secretary Anu Muhammad at the press conference at office of the Communist Party of Bangladesh said that the quick rental power plants had created a huge financial burden for the government and the government had to give Tk. 32,000 crore to the power sector in subsidy in the past financial year because of the rental plants.
He suggested that all of the gas and coal extracted should be used for power generation, a law should be passed banning export of mineral resources, old power plants should be overhauled and Petrobangla, Bapex and Survey of Bangladesh should be strengthened.
He said that the organisation would go on demonstrations in front power offices and closed power plants across the country on May 7 and hold marches in different parts of the capital in April 20–May 7.
The organisation’s convener Sheikh Muhammad Shaheedullah called on the government to cancel the deal with the US company ConocoPhillips on the hydrocarbon exploration from two offshore gas blocks in the Bay of Bengal and not to sign any new deal on offshore hydrocarbon exploration.
The government must ensure uninterrupted supply of power and must not make it a commodity, he said.
Organisation leaders Syed Abul Maksud, Ruhin Hossain Prince, Shubhrangshu Chakrabarty, Zonayed Saki,  Abdus Salam, Saiful Huq, Abul Hossain, Babul Biswas and others attended.