Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmood on Sunday said unscrupulous traders are hoarding and black marketing fuel in different parts of the country, creating an artificial fuel crisis.
“An artificial crisis is being created due to panic buying and hoarding,” he said in response to a tabled question from opposition MP elected from Netrakona-5 Masum Mustafa in Parliament.
The Minister said that there is no fuel crisis in the country and the statement made by State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed Islam in Parliament is correct.
The Minister said in order to maintain normal fuel supply, district, upazila administrations and Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) tag officers have been appointed across the country.
Every day, he said that hoarders are being brought under law by magistrates and jail terms or fines are being imposed. “The law enforcement agencies are working to prevent hoarding and black marketing.”
Besides, awareness activities have been taken by local administrations, he added.
So far, the Minister said, 3,510 cases have been filed through mobile courts drives across the country, a fine of Tk 1.56 crore has been collected and 5.42 lakh liters of fuel have been seized.
He said that in order to bring greater transparency in fuel marketing at the consumer level, the government has introduced fuel cards on an experimental basis at some filling stations in Dhaka city.
“If the trials are successful, it will be implemented nationwide. The fuel card will store the information about the fuel oil collection of the customers.”
In response to a question from government party MP elected from Pabna-5 Md. Shamsur Rahman Simul Biswas, Iqbal Hassan said the country's LPG market is about 98.67 percent import-dependent.
“The LPG import situation is being monitored regularly to keep the supply of LPG normal in the country amid the ongoing war situation in the Middle East,” he added.
To this end, he said, the LPG import situation in the country is being regularly reviewed from the National Board of Revenue's Asycuda World System and if any abnormality is found, importers are being contacted.
Moreover, the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission is being informed for taking action.