Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader has pushed the entire transport system of the country into anarchy, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said.

“Hundreds of people are losing their lives in road accidents every day. Yesterday, 11 students, who were traveling in a microbus, killed when a train hit the vehicle. We are observing so many incidents like this every day,” said Fakhrul while addressing at a rally in front of National Press Club in Dhaka on Saturday.

Dhaka City South BNP organized this rally to protest load shedding and mismanagement in the energy sector across the country.

Load shedding is occurring due to mega corruption and theft, said the BNP secretary general.

If the country has power generation capacity more than the need then why load shedding is occurring today, Fakhrul questioned. He further said, “This is happening due to corruption and mega theft. In the agreement that has been made, it is mentioned that they (power plant owners) will get the payment even if they do not produce electricity. Thousands of crores of taka have been given to 10 companies despite not generating electricity.”

The BNP secretary general said, “A fund was created for extracting gas from the sea. About Tk2,500 crore is given to buy gas from that fund. That it is another type of robbery.”

“Thousands of crores of taka have been siphoned in the name of electricity production in one hand while on the other hand they are importing gas as fuel. Awami League businessmen are importing this gas.”

Awami League does numerous theft and robbery, said Fakhrul adding that theft is everywhere wherever you go.

“The work of admitting students has started before the construction of infrastructure in public universities. In the name of buying land for the construction of a university in Chandpur, close associates of a minister wanted to loot money. This thing is happening everywhere. Awami League is involved in theft, robbery and extortion. They have destroyed everything.”

Criticising the government for arresting their leaders and activists, Mirza Fakhrul said, “The Awami Leagu president defiantly said no obstacle would be made for holding meeting and none of Opposition parties would be arrested and harassed. However, Dhaka City North BNP leader Dulu was arrested by the police in an ill-mannered. Several leaders of this unit were arrested in the same way.”

He further said, “We hoped to get a democratic country. Economic prosperity will come. But everything has been destroyed by this Awami League because of their theft, robbery and greed. Authoritarian regime has destroyed democracy and judiciary. The banking system has gone into the abyss.”

Dhaka City South BNP convener Abdul Salam presided over the rally.