Basad (Marxist) party held a protest rally demanding withdrawal of increased price of electricity and fuel oil

On June 6, 2026, at 4 pm, a protest rally was held in front of the Jatiya Press Club by the Basad (Marxist) party demanding the withdrawal of increased electricity and fuel prices.
Executive Forum Member Seema Dutta and Rashed Shahriar addressed the meeting under the chairmanship of Executive Forum Member Jaydeep Bhattacharya.
Expressing strong condemnation and anger, the speakers said, “
The BNP government came to power by promising to build affordable, sustainable, reliable and environment-friendly power and energy system in its election manifesto. Even after winning the elections, shortly after the formation of the government, the top officials of the respective ministries announced that the price of electricity would not be increased for at least two years. However, within three months of coming to power, electricity prices have been increased by 16.68 percent at the retail level and 19.85 percent at the wholesale level. The people of the country have been under the pressure of high commodity prices for a long time.
People had hoped that an elected government formed in the spirit of the 2024 popular uprising would provide some relief from inflationary pressures. But rising fuel and electricity prices will add to that pressure. Already, fuel prices have increased multiple times, affecting transport costs and prices of daily necessities. Now increasing the price of electricity will also increase the production cost of agriculture, industry and service sectors, which will have an impact on the entire economy. This will make the life of low and fixed income people more difficult.
At present electricity subsidy is required because the Bangladesh Power Development Board is forced to purchase electricity from private power producers at high prices including capacity charges. That is, even if many power plants do not buy electricity, they have to pay a fixed amount due to the contract. Currently the production capacity is 29 thousand MW but the daily requirement is 14/15 thousand MW. As a result, the government is actually subsidizing the big businessmen by showing this excess production capacity.During the tenure of the Awami League government, electricity prices were increased 12 times at the wholesale level and 14 times at the retail level in 15 years. But even that did not reduce the burden of loss or subsidy. As a result, it is clear that raising prices alone is not a long-term solution.
If the people of the country do not stand unitedly against this arbitrariness of the government, public suffering will continue to increase.”

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