It is an excellent idea to provide the rural poor with subsidised liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Mooted by the Ministry of Commerce (MoC), the idea may be well-intentioned but its own doubt about execution of a programme of this order is reflected in the trepidation over its urgency. The Cabinet Division sent a letter to the ministries and departments concerned, instructing them to coordinate their engagement aimed at making the move successful. At the same time, a senior official of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division logically explains that the Cabinet Division's letter does not set a deadline, so the matter is not particularly urgent. Different ministries and divisions will give their opinions on this issue before a decision is made.
Although the idea is excellent, it is flawed on several counts. First, the timing of the initiative is wrong similar to the introduction of the new national pay scale for government employees. At a time when the economy is slowing and the government's sources of income is shrinking, it has announced the largesse for 3.3 million civil and military employees including retired beneficiaries involving an annual additional amount of Tk1.0558 trillion on top of the current Tk1.31 trillion. Similarly, when the country has miserably failed to supply gas to the existing subscribers following the fire on the Excelerate Energy floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) on July 21 last, the initiative to support the economically disadvantaged rural poor is logically flawed. Then the target beneficiaries are the 'economically disadvantaged' households. What are the criteria of defining this particular group? The poorest and the marginal households will not be able to afford the LPG cylinders even if the price is brought down to a quarter of the rate fixed by the government. Next, the idea of distributing such cylinders through TCB (Trading Corporation of Bangladesh) dealers is a dangerous one. They are accustomed to handling essential commodities not safety-sensitive products like LPG cylinders.
These practical problems have their attendant ills as well. Although, the government's concern is to ensure use of clean fuel at the grassroots level in consideration of the environment, the affordability of the poorest of the poor and safe handling cannot be overlooked. Chances are that the LPG cylinders will trigger another round of misappropriation with the product reaching unintended beneficiaries. Unless poverty has been addressed effectively to pull the poor out of the rut, they cannot be expected to benefit from even the subsidised LPG. There is no point exporting corruption to the rural setting. Any such programme must wait for creation of a suitable condition for its execution.
When supply of gas from imported LNG cannot be ensured leading to severe disruption of normal life and production in factories and industries, entertaining the idea of reaching LPG to the most poor and vulnerable appears to be a luxury right at this moment. If there is sufficient gas to meet the existing demand through exploration of onshore or offshore sources, a programme of this order can be implemented. But this will take time. There is no overnight solution to the energy crisis. The country has followed a defective energy policy without taking into consideration the evolving geopolitics. Now the government is paying for this erroneous policy of overdependence on imported fuels.
