Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Tuesday announced a two-hour sit-in countrywide programme from 10:00am on March 2 (Thursday) protesting the gas price hike for all consumers.

BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi announced the programme from the party’s Nayapaltan central office after the half-day hartal enforced by two leftist political parties protesting the gas price hike.

Earlier, Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) and Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (BSD) enforced the haltal.

‘The gas price hike is nothing but a government trick to pocket public money. The decision of this anti-people government has become a cause of sufferings for people. We’ll enforce the sit-in programme from 10 am to 12 pm on March 2 to protest the decision,’ said Rizvi.

Earlier on February 23, the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) raised gas prices for all types of consumers which will come into effect in two phases.

In the first phase, to be effective from March 1, household consumers will have to pay Tk 750 for single burner while Tk 800 for double burner a month.

At present, the gas price is Tk 600 for single burner and Tk 650 for double burner.

The same consumers will have to pay Tk 900 and Tk 950 for single and double burners respectively from June 1.

Similarly, the motor vehicle owners using CNG will have to pay Tk 38 for per cubic metre from March 1 and Tk 40 from June 1 this year.

The gas prices for other sectors, including power, fertilise, industries, commercial ventures and captive power plants, were also raised.