Many families in Khulna, Kurigram, Narayanganj, Gazipur, Sylhet, Chattogram and Barishal have gone back to cooking with firewood on clay stoves because of the rising price of liquefied petroleum gas, Samakal's correspondents report. Some are switching to electric cookers, and in places demand has pushed up the price of firewood too.
In the nine months from March to November the government-set LPG price rose by about 53.6 per cent. The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) fixed the 12 kg cylinder at Tk 2,060 for November, yet retailers are selling it for Tk 2,200 to 2,600, and supply is uncertain as well.
In Mollapara, Khulna, Murshida Dina's family uses one and a half cylinders a month and used to spend about Tk 2,500. After the 2 November increase added more than Tk 700 a month, she bought five maunds of firewood and cooks on a clay stove. Her neighbour Sultana Begum paid Tk 750 for five maunds of wet wood, which should last about 20 days. Tobarak Hossain Tapu, president of the Khulna district LP gas shop owners' association, said shops that used to sell eight to ten cylinders a day sold only two in the last three days.
In Kurigram a cylinder that cost Tk 1,600 now costs up to Tk 2,500, and one buyer had to pay a shop Tk 1,000 in advance to be sure of getting one. In Narayanganj the price comes on top of a shortage of piped Titas gas: residents of Paikpara say the line has been dry most of the day for five or six months.
Around Mawna, Fulbaria in Kaliakair, Mouchak, Bhabanipur and Hotapara in Gazipur, many families are cooking with wood gathered from the nearby gajari forest. Garment worker Laili Begum, who earns Tk 13,300 a month, says she cannot afford LPG at the new price. Cylinders there sell for Tk 2,350 to 2,500. In Sylhet, distributors are accused of charging Tk 100 to 150 above the dealer price.
People in high-rise flats, who cannot cook on wood, are worst placed. A 50-unit building in Chattogram runs 49 cylinders; its security guard Robiul Hossain says cylinders are not available at the official price and residents wait for hours when one runs out. In Shyamoli, 80-year-old Samola Begum, whose family lives by growing vegetables, stopped buying Tk 2,300 cylinders and built a clay stove.
Photo: SanjayBeen / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Samakal
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